Questions and Answers

Nissan Maxima Has No Juice Q. Okay, I'm 15 and I bought this car about a month ago. The guy I got it from said that it needed an alternator belt and it didn't run. So my friend and I towed it home and put a new battery in it and it purred. All the windows worked and the lights but it didn't have the alternator hooked up so we had to charge up the battery up with a battery charger.

We put the alternator belt on because charging it up was a pain. It went on and we went to start up the car and there is now no power, no headlights, accessories or engine. Took the belt off and nothing still. Checked all the fuses and still nothing.

Please help me out I spent the last month pondering over this and at the point of insanity! Thank you for reading this and I will be waiting for your reply because I have nothing better to do.

• 1989 Nissan Maxima
• 3.0 liter V-6
• Manual transmission
• 260,000 miles
• Fuel Injection
• ABS brakes
• P/S, A/C, Cruise control

A. If you have no power at all, the first thing to do is check the battery terminal connections. The battery cable clamps are kind of flimsy and were prone to rotting away. This allowed corrosion to get between the terminal and battery post.

So, first thing to do is to remove the cables, negative off first and replaced last, and give them a good cleaning. Put a voltmeter between the positive and negative posts to insure the battery has juice and is not dead. If the battery cable terminals are rotted away, replace them. Use a wire brush to clean the battery posts.

If there is "snow" on the battery posts clean it off with baking soda and lots of water. When you get it all nice and clean I think you'll have no problem charging the battery and getting it started.

If you still do not have power, then check the fusible links with your voltmeter. The battery and fusible links are just about all that will cause a complete power loss.