It has to be my alternator, right?

Hi, my mechanic installed a rebuilt alternator on my car back in December (after my original one died), and starting a month or two later, a series of annoying problems has been phasing in (and out) to this day. First, my power locks developed a mind of their own, unlocking with the car parked and triggering my horn. I noticed my locks also unlocked while driving; the problem eventually, um, evoloved into locking as well. A second problem is my windshield wipers getting stuck at the top of the stroke (in intermittent mode). And finally, just recently my passenger side window has been rendered inept. Since all of these are electrically related, and I had my alternator changed fairly recently, this would be the most likely culprit, right? At this point I'll mention that my car's a 95 Nissan 200SX (Sentra) SE-R. But you Honda peoples is so knowledgable that I had to cross-post.

Reply to
Crunchy Cookie
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Try measuring the voltage at the battery with the engine running. Most cars have the voltage regulator set at 13.5 or 14 volts (don't know what Nissan uses). If you see more than 14.5 volts either at idle or as you rev the engine up to 1500 - 2000 RPM it means you have a bad voltage regulator. Excess voltage can cause damage to the electronics in the car as well as ruin your battery. The voltage regulator us built into the alternator and on many cars it can not be replaced by itself.

If your battery is bad (you can't possibly still have the orig>

Reply to
Randolph

To me it doesn't sound like an alternator problem.. All your alternator does is powers your components and charges your battery while your car is running, but this wouldn't have any effect on the electronic components within your car. So in my opinion that alternator would be the last place that I would look. Good luck, electronics can be fun :)

Reply to
Mark McLean

Unless the alternator had a problem with the regulator and blew something up and he has a short somewhere now. It might also be a ground problem.

Reply to
Paul Bielec

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