I replaced my 2016 Nissan Maxima alternator (8th generation) "No acceleration problem FIXED" *UPDATE
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- *UPDATED 2/11/2024* READ BELOW
I took on the task of replacing the alternator in my wifes 2016 Nissan Maxima over fathers day weekend. I had no instructions to go off of but I gave myself a full day and a half to figure it out. The coolant must be drained, the ac system has to be evacuated, and the ac compressor must be removed in order to install the new alternator.
The worst parts were trying to remove the fans because there was barely any room to maneuver them, harnesses and plugs were hard to pinch and remove, and about 3 bolts must have been installed by the incredible hulk at the Nissan factory.
The reason for replacing was because for the past 3 to 4 weeks the car would randomly not accelerate when exiting the highways mostly. The voltage would drop to anywhere between 12.1 to as low as 9 volts. Most days the vehicle would operate fine and the alternator would be charging perfectly. I used my battery charger and alternator tester to check periodically and I did get a bad alternator reading one time. After reading reviews from certain store bought alternators, I decided to purchase and OEM alternator from my local Nissan dealership on a friday and tackled this job on saturday and part of sunday. I completed the job, recharged my ac system and was showered and ready to test drive it for Fathers Day dinner. It took me 14 hours total but am confident that I could do it again in under 6 hours. I couldnt find any instructions or how to videos online so I decided to post this just to give others an idea of how it went for me. Good luck if you try it. It can easily be done with patience, the right tools, and a desire to save money on the labor.
*UPDATED* Piece of crap alternator from the Nissan dealership lasted 8 months. The alternator i purchased from Nissan is simply a remanufactured alternator without any Nissan sticker on it as shown in the video. Plus, the 1 year warranty is only valid if you have the Nissan dealership install if for you which defeats the whole purpose of me saving money by installing it myself. This alternator seemed to always lack power as my headlights would brighten when I would accellerate the car. It would also have a slight squeeky sound when idling. When it finally took a sh*t on me, It was no longer drivable. Luckily this happened on a saturday so I headed to my local LKQ salvage yard and pulled an OEM Nissan alternator out of a 2012 Maxima on Sunday and started the process all over again. It took me 6 hours to do the second time and so far it charges better than the crap one I bought from the Nissan dealership. I just went a pulled another OEM Nissan alternator from the salvage yard just to have a spare in case this crap happens again. The alternator cost me $39.99 plus a $10 core charge. This is the way to go in my opinion. Get yourself a used OEM Nissan alternator from the salvage yard because those seem to be the only ones that function properly. I would not buy the remanufactured crap that Nissan sells you. I will continue to update this video if this problem happens again.
Replaced mines today and used this video for help. I started at 9am and had the alternator out by 1pm i will say u do not need to remove the bracket or line below the ac compressor by the right wheel , once u remove the front bracket of alternator u can wiggle it out sideways and get it in , took me 2 hrs to put it back on you do have to remove ac line to be able to get it out for sure is a pain in the ass but if you know what your doing you can get it done in one day . Appreciate the video man helped out for sure.
Awesome man! It is a pain in the ass for sure so thats why I posted my experience with it. Glad to know it helped you out.
I did this job (2016 Altima) for the first time yesterday. I decided to go thru the bottom. Removed top nut on the front engine mount, removed belt, removed tensioner, lowered subframe, loosened miscellaneous harness clips, unclipped and moved oil cooler lines out of the way, disconnected compressor connectors, removed compressor fasteners (4), lowered compressor. Then removed bottom alternator nut and long bolt
Alternator top bolt, and electrical connections accessed from the top. Disconnect upper radiator hose and move out of the way to make room. After all this is done, the alternator came out with little effort thru the bottom while moving the AC compressor out of the way
4hr job?
@@elmayimbe_the_amateur_mechanic probably, if doing it on the ground. It probably took me 3. On a lift and first time doing it
@@emmcee476, fuck I have a guy asking about this job and before I looked it up I knew it would be a bitch on these 3.5's. No lift either. I think I am gonna go through the top.
@@elmayimbe_the_amateur_mechanic I think on certain years 3.5s it can be done from the top. Let us know how it goes
@@emmcee476, 2017 Maxima. The fans must come out.
Great video bro this is just unbelievable how Nissan builds these cars like it seems like they the only ones that build them like this everybody else you alternator is on top. This is just unbelievable I mean unbelievable for just an alternator.
Love the Max here. For anyone watching, I saw another way to pull the alternator out the bottom without opening the a/c lines.
If you unbolt the a/c compressor and the lines, it will have wiggle room. Then loosen the subframe bolt by the a/c compressor, and you can pull the alternator out and put the new one in without having to service the a/c.
Send the link!!
Send link
@@donaldcoates5663 th-cam.com/video/Ub3-F-MXqyw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=FeWwbMDnJ1HHW58T
@@MarketingCoachKen Could this video link be used to repair 2016 maxima alternator ?
@@GMMEH21 People I see with the 2016 say they had to take apart the A.C lines. The body of the 2016 has a different shape and I think that makes this job slightly more difficult.
My car has the same issue and now im about to order a oem alternator from a nissan dealership nearby and this video will be my guide. Thanks for the upload!
Your welcome. Hope it helps you accomplish the task.
I appreciate the video, my 16 maxima alternator is acting up now that's why I'm here!! Lol😂😢
Your welcome. I hope it helps you out.
Same issue on my 13 maxima…battery light on(alternator overcharging around 15.2v)😥
Good job doing this yourself. Its nice to know you saved yourself some money.
Thanks! I love saving money but the sense of accomplishment afterwards was also very rewarding 👌
Fans come out, battery, low pressure line, belt, and tensioner, wheel and cover behind the wheel, book time is 2.6 hours plus evac and recharge the AC
Best way to fix that Year Maxima is trade in car?!
What's wrong with a 2011 Maxima? I don't see anyone complaining about reliability.
@@MarketingCoachKen Other than its heavy, plot resale value, timing chain ticking, and Oh.. Little issue with CVT transmission.. Other than that car is great, quick & comfortable!
I was able to do this on my 2016 maxima by unbolting the ac compressor and I was able to move it out of the way just enough to slide the alternator out from the top. Still had to obviously remove everything else ok the way but I was able to do it without opening up the AC system.
Thank you for another awesome video:). Would u know the part #. For alternator or website I can purchase oem that’s not Nissan dealer Thank you in advance
*UPDATE* Buy a used OEM alternator from a salvage yard or Ebay instead. The crap that Nissan sells is remanufactured and not as good as OEM.** The Nissan part # is 2310M - JA11RRW. Just search that part number in google and you should be able to find multiple online retailers selling the part cheaper than your local dealership.
@@rrodriguez3622 thank you so much local Nissan wants 789 for alternator and 89 core. Sounds like they are charge way to much but I thank you for your time to help me find a more affordable solution:) have a great day
I figured it would have to come out from the bottom. Im doing this for a customer at work. What a pain.
How did it go? Any chance you were able to do it without opening up the AC system?
@@DIYAUTOCAR I will be getting to it tomorrow. But I can't see how the alternator can be removed without touching the A/C system. You have the low A/C line up top plus the compressor down below.
@@Marco250T yeah I thought the same also but some guy from some Asian country posted a video and seemed to say that he was able to just unbolt the AC compressor or loosen it and move it enough. He said that in the comments when I asked. Who knows though. Which brand of alternator are you going with?
@@DIYAUTOCAR I'll update you on how it goes tomorrow. We're just replacing it with a brand from Napa. Idk what specifically. As long as it's the correct one.
@@DIYAUTOCAR I took the A/C compressor out plus the 2 lines. It was pretty straightforward with those things out of the way. It would have been a struggle doing it any other way, even trying to take it out from the top. I did remove the upper radiator hose to give myself some room. The fan wasn't worth trying to take out given how much trouble it was giving me.
I’m thinking about doing the same, I appreciate the video! But the red and blue hoses were those for the A/C?
Yes those hoses were to my ac manifold gauges which were used to evacuate my ac system and then used again at the end to recharge my ac system.
Ok how did you evacuate your ac just plugging the hoses ??????
@@renebenavides9159I used a refrigerant recovery machine that the yellow hosed was hooked up to. It is recommended that you take it to a shop and pay a mechanic to recover your refrigerant before you start to unhook your ac lines.
It would be illegal (in the USA) and bad for the ozone layer if you just used your ac manifold gauges without connecting your yellow hose to a recovery system and just released the refrigerant into the atmosphere.
Have the junkyard ones stayed working? Im skeptical now to buy an alternator even from the dealership if ill just have to do the job again.
The oem alternator i pulled from the junkyard has been working great. I also replaced my redtop Optima battery with a regular battery and everything has been working great. It is possible that an AGM battery does not charge properly in these Nissans. That has become my new theory. If anybody else has been having this problem and you have an AGM battery installed, that would be great information to know.
@@rrodriguez3622 our issue was with an OEM battery. I bought a new non AGM battery and had it in the car so when it died I swapped it on the side of the road and the alternator was still not charging. I was only showing battery voltage. Once it cooled off a few hours later, it was charging at 14.4 like it should.
@@DIYAUTOCARThanks for that information. That rules out my theory. I also had an aftemarket sub & amp, and a hardwired dash cam installed at the time. Any chance you had an aftermarket component installed when your alternator failed?
@@rrodriguez3622 nothing aftermarket at all. Car is 100 percent stock
@@rrodriguez3622 car is completely stock. Nothing aftermarket
How many miles was on your car when the alternator went out? And if anyone else sees this video could you please let me know how many miles we're on your car and what year it is? Thank you
It had about 146k miles on it when the alternator started acting up. I did overwork the alternator for over 3 years though with an aftermarket subwoofer and amplifier in the trunk.
For me around 152k miles & alternator starts to overcharging😥
@@omaralmoqbali5578Thank you
@@rrodriguez3622Thank you!!
@@rrodriguez3622 hey also bro for breaking boats that are rusted and tough to get loose PB blaster. That stuff is wonderful it’s great. Thanks again.
How many miles did u have on car when alternator failed ? Thank you in advance
Just over 146,000 miles on it when alternator started to have problems
Can u tell me what fails did the car made before the change!!? What simptoms?
@@elruedas1068The main symptom was random "no acceleration" while driving usually on the highway. The car was still running, but pressing the gas pedal would not make it go. Then several lights on the dash would come on. Battery, brakes, and 1 or 2 other lights as well. The car would not die on me, but it would not move. Sometimes it would run fine again after shutting it off for a couple of mins. Its like the alternator would randomly stop charging mostly while driving on the highway.
@@rrodriguez3622 thxs! Mine does have those symptoms and i replaced the valve box of the transmission but problem kept, im going to change the alternator…
@@elruedas1068 Just make sure you buy a genuine Nissan brand alternator. They seem to be the only ones that will work properly for the Maximas. Good luck with it!
It's been 1:07 so far and your still just TALKING damn I wish yall just got to the meat
Ha, thats exactly what I told your mom last night
Did you actually recover the refrigerant or just unbolt it and run away? Lol
Lol. I would never consider unbolting a refrigerant line thats pressurized. I used my ac manifold gauges to slowly release the refrigerant into a wet rag.
@@rrodriguez3622 I might know a guy who has done that.....