maxima278

iTrader: (3)

About two hours after I bought this car in march the brake warning light (along with a faint hint of the battery light) came on and has not gone off ever since. I checked the fluid level and it was fine, replaced the worn out rear pads, and checked the front pads. Brake pressure is good and all seems well. What gives? Please note it is a 92 SE 5 speed, no abs.

Fakie J Farkerton

iTrader: (51)

Easy. It's your alternator.

Close thread.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

yup, the alty is on it's way out...replace it before it strands you...

maxima278

iTrader: (3)

Ok this is weird... I just went out investigating, pulled my center console out, looked over the little switch and all that was fine, then I looked in the fuse box and noticed a missing fuse which I thought was the airbag fuse which is not needed, but it was actually the one above it marked ENG CONT. guess I miscounted when I looked at this earlier. I was like how the hell is the car running without it? I popped another fuse in and started the car again. Light went out, problem solved. Idled really high for a minute, now everything is back to normal. What the heck was I driving around with not working? Who knows.

Soooo not the alternator obviously. That one I could have diagnosed.

Fakie J Farkerton

iTrader: (51)

^^^ weird.

What you were describing was exactly what happens when the alternator is going bad.
Whatever...

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

look in these 2... should tell you what that fuse does. assuming they didn't move crap around for different years (and yours therefore matches a 94)

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/1994/ec.pdf
http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/1994/el.pdf

Hectic

iTrader: (20)

Your car should not run without the engine control fuse.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

could still be the alt going, about a month before mine went the battery light would flicker every once in a while. then one morning the ABS and battery light went on and a hour later the alt crapped out

if you want to rule out the alternator, get a voltage tester and with the car running put the positive lead on battery positive and negative lead on battery negative. if its something low like 12.8 its not charging enough, should be around 13.8-14.2ish

maxima278

iTrader: (3)

I remember pulling that fuse.. Don't remember why I was swapping fuses around but I was a thousand miles from home and short one fuse. I thought I was pulling the airbag fuse, but was off by one. After that the light came on, I never questioned it because I knew the back brakes were about gone. Never connected the two until today when I changed the brakes finally. Put the fuse back in and the light went out.

Strange thing is now my idle is around 1500 rpm... Is there an adjuster on a VE? And yeah I'm with everybody that is pretty sure the car should not have started without that fuse. Much less run fine for a month.

As far as the alternator goes, I'm not borrowing trouble on that one yet... Got my hands full as it is. No flickering, no more irregular lights coming on since the fuse was replaced, just an irregular idle.

I recently replaced the tps, does adjusting that control idle speed?

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Your car will run with the engine cont fuse blown or missing. It won't start, though.

About 10 years ago I had an early model WSP pipe that had the 02 sensor positioned poorly and due to engine vibrations, etc. it caused the 02 sensor wires to chafe, and eventually touch and short.

My car kept blowing the ENG CONT fuse in the dash, and the car wouldn't start until I put a new fuse in it. It got so bad that I had to carry a box of fuses around with me so I wouldn't get stranded. This plagued me for MONTHS then I finally noticed the 02 sensor wires were frayed. I had complained to WSP and they made me a new y-pipe and replaced the 02 sensor and all has been well ever since.

Anyway, obviously your issue was self-inflicted with pulling the fuse. But for future reference blown engine cont fuses are almost entirely 02 sensor wire shorting issues. I've seen it numerous times on Nissan forums over the years.

Edit: I just re-read the original post. So you've been missing the eng cont fuse since day one and your car has been starting without it? Weird. You'd think a missing fuse would prevent it from starting just as the blown fuse would.