To make this as simple as i can for you. Take your alt and bat out. Go get them both professionally tested. By that I mean go to a well known reputable shop.
Charging system’s going wack can fuck with a lot of shit.
At the end of year SON meet. That day i power washed my engine bay. Drove to PUR Auto no problem. Went to leave. I guess moisture made it’s way into my distributor and alternator some how. Anyways, the drive home was fucked. I had no tools so i could not fix shit on the side of the road (even though i tried)
In the beginning it would just misfire. By the time i got off the 410. Everything was wack. Bat light on, abs everything was going insane. Cleaned up my alt and everything was fine afterwards (distributor dried up)
So start with your starting and charging system. Those are the wires and components you want to start with.
Good luck.
Let me in on some more info when you get it.
P.S
if the bolt rotted off the alt for the ground…imagine how the diode is! Get that shit tested brother!
Ok, its easy to test an alternator quickly yourself.
Use a Multimeter touch one end on the alternator output wire and the other on the neg battery terminal. Voltage should be 13.0-15.2V depending on how discharged the battery is. If it is below chances are the alternator has an open in the windings, the diodes are bad or the voltage regulator is bad. If this reading is between 13.0-15.2V then check the charging system or alternator fuse its usually a 100A fuse because it could be blown, if its ok then you have a wiring problem. If you have an amp clamp even better, clamp it around the output wire, turn all the accessories on and rev it up to 2000 RPM, it should be close to 90A or whatever your alternator is rated at. If it is only showing something significantly lower your diode pattern is bad.
To check for a short or open, run the car at idle, and measure the voltage between the B and L terminals, the voltage here shouldn’t be more than 0.5V.
To test the voltage regulator, with the engine running at idle measure he voltage at the B terminal (B terminal to ground), It should be below 15.5V but above 13V or the voltage regulator is faulty. This is usually pretty cheap to replace on its own if you feel comfortable taking apart your alternator.
If your worried that the Battery light is burnt out, this is the easiest one to check. Simply cycle the key off then on and the computer should do a cluster check, if you don’t see it light up its burnt out. Or the wire going to the bulb is bad.
Fix the charging problem and post the results please. let us know if it fixed the problem.
I had a similar problem in my S13, the battery wasn’t being charged but my alternator was putting out the required voltage. After re & re ing the alternator and battery a bunch of times. By the way i can change the alternator in an s13 in like 10 secs now lol.
Look in ur under hood fuse panel, there is a ALT FUSE there 75a. That was blown, ordered it from nissan, installed it and my charging system has been fine ever since.
Now i also had a similar problem with my clock. My clock would be on untill i put my seat belt on then it would cut out. i fixed this by just removing any fuses (drivers front kick panel) i wasn’t using(My dome light was shorted out long ago and couple other fuses i wasn’t needing) and just remove every fuse then reinstall them in the same socket(if they weren’t pouched).
hope that helps, it probably will, i had pretty well the same problems
DirtyDevvo checked my Alternator fuse… it was blown
replaced that, my charging system was fine, my engine had the power i had before, everything was A-OK
So im thinking, it may have been the ground wire initially… and that when i fixxed the alternator ground wire, i blew my fuse, so i fixed the problem, but caused another that had the exact same symptoms of the previous one.
but… my dome light is still out, and my head unit still doesnt hold settings, nor does my clock hold the time. it resets to 1:00 when any door is opened… so fuckin weird.
^^^ the dude that posted above me, im gonna take ur suggestion when i got some time