Does Your Nissan Need an Alternator Repair?

The alternator is essential to your car. It keeps the battery fully charged and provides power to all the electrical devices in your car. If the alternator starts to fail, it won’t charge your battery, and your battery will also die. As your Nissan dealer, we don’t want you to be stranded with a dead alternator and battery. These are some of the signs to watch for that you’ll need an alternator repair before it fails.

Do You Need an Alternator Repair at Your Nissan Dealer?

Headlight Problem

One of the signs of a failing alternator is strange behavior by your car’s headlights. When you turn on your lights they should maintain a constant beam, but if the alternator is damaged, you can experience dim headlights followed by overly bright headlights. The reason for this is reduced electrical output from the alternator. When an alternator starts to fail, it isn’t able to provide as much power as it previously did, but your car’s electrical demands remain the same.

The reduced electrical output forces the alternator to prioritize power allocation, and this can cause your lights to suddenly dim. To compensate for this, the alternator will shift more power to the lights and they will suddenly grow brighter than they should. The varied power supply will also damage your headlight bulbs and cause them to burn out faster, as the bulbs require a consistent level of power.

Difficulty Starting

Your Nissan should start as soon as you turn the key. The starter requires a charge from the battery to crank your engine, but the battery only has a limited electrical storage capacity. Your alternator charges the battery when your car is moving and this keeps the battery at full capacity. When an alternator starts to fail, it loses it starts to lose its ability to effectively charge the battery.

If your alternator fails, the battery will not be able to recharge and it will start to lose power itself. A slow crank means your battery has an insufficient charge to immediately start your engine, and the most likely cause of this is a damaged alternator.

Electrical Problems

An electrical issue, for example, a seat heater that fails to come on and then suddenly works properly could just be a random issue. If you notice, however, that peripheral devices in your car are failing for no apparent reason, this may be a sign that your alternator is failing. The alternator supplies the power for all your car’s devices, but when it starts to weaken it lacks the power to maintain all of the devices you need.

Your alternator will always show signs that it’s wearing out, and this gives you time to get a replacement before it fails completely. When your Nissan shows any of these signs, or something just doesn’t feel right with your car, call us right away at Ed Martin Nissan. Our specialized mechanics will be happy to
check your alternator and give you any information you may need.

image courtesy of pexels.com

Tags: alternator, anderson, Auto REpair, car repair, Indiana, indianapolis, indianapolis in, repair
Posted in Ed Martin Nissan Service | No Comments »