[luke12345]

Hey, everyone. I'm trying to figure out some electrical issues with a friends 200sx. I've been messing around with hondas for several years, so I'm not a total newb, but new to nissans for the most part.

Anyway, here's the deal. Somebody told my friend that the alternator was bad, so she got a new one, and I swapped it out for her. Turns out the alternator wasn't the problem.

Here's the list of issues:

The car runs until the battery runs out of juice because it's not getting charged, but the alternator is new.
The headlights, tail lights, and dash lighting all work.
The brake lights, guages, dome light, stereo, and of course the alternator do NOT work.

I checked all the fuses in the box under the hood, as well as the one under the steering wheel. None of the relays under the hood above the passenger wheel well seem to apply to this, but who knows.

I know there has to be more relays somewhere though. I just couldn't find them before it got dark.

I downloaded the service manual for a 97 sentra, which is similar, but I'm not sure how similar. Can somebody point me to one for this car? or is the sentra close enough to work with?

Also, any ideas what might cause all these problems?

Thanks for the help!

 

[IanH]

yes it should be very close, same manual for my 97 Sentra and 97 200SX
there is a fusible link, look for it, it sounds like the issue.

 

[luke12345]

yes it should be very close, same manual for my 97 Sentra and 97 200SX
there is a fusible link, look for it, it sounds like the issue.

Thanks for the info. And that was my thought too. I know I blew the 75A battery fusible link while doing this, but after it blew the car wouldn't start either. So unless that link can partially blow, and still allow some systems to operate it's not the cause of the rest of this.

Are there more links than the ones next to the battery?

I'm about to pick up that link to change it, maybe I'll get lucky! lol

 

[IanH]

Well looking at the FSM you are right, check the 10A and 15A fuses. these power the audio, gauges and Alt.
Look at EL-11, EL-12

 

[luke12345]

Well looking at the FSM you are right, check the 10A and 15A fuses. these power the audio, gauges and Alt.
Look at EL-11, EL-12

I got it figured out. It was actually that 75A link, I forgot that I had disconnected the alarm looking for more fuses and relays and stuff. In my hurry since it was getting dark it didn't even occur to me that it would cause the car to not start.

Anyway, I reconnected the alarm, replaced that link, and everything worked correctly again.

Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[ChrisAce]

Check your Ground connections

That is great you got it working. They should have been able to perform a bench test on the alternator before diagnosing. Ah well. Now you can expect that to last another 100k.

One thing I wanted to add for other browsers is to always check ground connections, especially the main ones that go to the engine. Ground is of the utmost importance and a common culprit with electrical problems, especially intermittent ones.

It doesn't hurt to clean ground connections every 50k or so depending upon climates. Also replacing battery cables is a good idea.