will not charge at night.

[Whitebrick]

Been a long time since i have been on here due to not having the internet at my new place. K i have already put a new altenater on my pathfinder thinking thats what was wrong with it. Long story short this is only at night when this happens i have the a/c on and lights. when i come to a stop light i push the cluch in and it gos to idle everything dims and the motor sounds like it is going to die. My volts is saying any were from 12.3v to 11.8v. but when i give it gas the volts gos to normal as if nothing happend until it idles agin. Is there some kind of idle air controler on the intake. I tryed to find it in a chiltons book for i cant find my hayns bood but i would not help me for crap. I do not recomend geting a chiltons bood for it sucks.

 

Thanks.

[jbdevega]

if its not the alternator then check the battery, it may be going bad. you should be able to check it anywhere for free.

[nunya]

I'm saying you got a bad alt. Mine did kinda the same thing before I swapped to the Maxima alt, at idle (with nothing on) I would be bairly charging 12v but once the motor was revved up some I had to turn stuff on just to keep the gauge from pegging. Of course I also had a bearing goeing bad and an internal short in it that would drain my battery to dead if it sat longer than overnight. I suggest getting the charging system checked both the alt AND battery to make sure you didn't juice that as well (as said alot of places do it for free) and hope you have the reciept from the alt to get a fresh one for no charge... if you got one with a warranty that is.

[Whitebrick]

Ok I well have to try that out. The battery is almost 4 years old. I guess since I'm there I well have thim check the alternator as well. Thanks agin.

[Precise1]

Check all the main electrical connections first (battery, ground, alternator). Have the battery load tested, then have the alt tested. My bet is that your alt is going out, but a failing battery could be the cause of that.

 

B

[87pathy]

Alternator should be running close to 14VDC if not, you got a bad alt.

 

If its at that voltage and still not charging the battery its the battery

[Whitebrick]

K i got it tested yesterday and everything came out great. when the engine is runing and nothing is on it is puting out 14.2 volts. when a load is put on it it went down to 13.8 vlots. then with the lights on and a/c on with no load it was puting out 13.7 volts. then when the load was put on it with all that on it went down to 11.9 volts. then to top it off the check engine light came one and im like wtf. did the diagnostic crap and it is saying a 21 code wich is ignition signal. can anyone tell me what that means and how to fix it. howeve it well only come one at idle then when you start to go and give it gas it well go out. then when i leave it in gear and let off the gas to come to a stop so the engine well slow me down the light comes back one. for the last 16 years that thing has never had the light stay on that long.

 

thanks agin guys.

[Alkorahil]

Is the idle set too low?

[Whitebrick]

I have never tuched it befor tell the other day when I ran the code I put the little nob almost to high idle and it stell dose the samething.