Have replaced my alternator now 4 times in the past year?

MSITTHIXAY

MEMBER
2005 INFINITI G35
3.5L
V6
4WD
MANUAL
157,400 MILES

I have replaced my alternator now 4 times in the past year and the newest 1 a month ago and I already have to switch charged batteries at least twice a day to drive and I can't drive that far. My battery light comes on and the idle drops way low I have to keep revving to be able to drive I don't know what is ruining the alternators so quickly my batteries are both new. And since the new one was installed my abs and vdc lights automatically come on now and vdc button doesn't work when that happens and when I turn car off the box keeps running have had many more issues.

4 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
48,550 POSTS

Can I ask which brand of alternator you are using? Another thing when you say batteries do you mean more than one? Because I only see one battery for this car. The wiring for the alternator is pretty simple so good clean connection at the battery and alternator should be mandatory. Here is what the wiring looks like. Check out the images (below). Please upload pictures or videos in your response of any problems so we can see what to help you with.

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Saturday, December 28th, 2024 AT 12:00 PM

MSITTHIXAY

MEMBER
3 POSTS

I was getting the alternators on Amazon, but then I watched a video of a guy with the same car having problems and the guy that made the video said it has to be an OEM so that’s what I got and when I say batteries, I mean, I keep two batteries. One when I’m trying to run the car and the other one for when it drains, I can switch them out so I can get to where I’m going. I’ve had to buy multiple batteries at a time just for this problem.

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Saturday, December 28th, 2024 AT 12:39 PM

MSITTHIXAY

MEMBER
3 POSTS

The other big problem that completely stumped me is the ABS and VDC. They automatically now pop on anytime I turn my car on, and I have the VDC button but when they pop on its own, you could push it. Nothing happens so I can drive with those on when I park and turn off the car there’s this little box on the driver side under the hood that continually just runs without the car being turned on or anything if those lights pop on I have to turn it back on back up pull up back up, pull up and then turn the car off for all of that to stop. How is stuff running without the car going and is that messing anything else up?

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Saturday, December 28th, 2024 AT 12:43 PM

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
48,550 POSTS

So you might have found the problem, when you say the alternator does not work do you have a battery light on while the engine is running, if not you might have a battery draw, which will drain the battery down. To be sure when the engine is running, please use this guide to see if the alternator is working:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-a-car-alternator

It sounds like the ABS control module is sticking on that will drain the battery pretty quickly. Let me know.

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Sunday, December 29th, 2024 AT 12:41 PM