every once and a while, i can hear a whining noise coming from under my hood. it goes away whenever i brake to slow down and stops when i accelerate. so finally i got my baby to stop and still have her whining so i could hear where it was coming from and it sounds like it is coming from my alternator. well, that is not what i need help on. if it is my altenator (which i am almost positive it is), then it will be the third time it has had to be replaced in 7k miles. does anybody know what could be causing it to go out so much? thanks.

do u have any kind of stereo system. external amp. anything that is drawing extar amperage compared to stock form. u might have a short in a main electrical system that is pulling extra juice

the only thing electircal wise that is different is a different head unit.

well i dont know then unless something is shorted causing an extra pull. sorry. good luck

I mentioned to you in IM to try getting a new battery. That worked for me when my alternator kept going out on my 86 2+2. Put a new battery in it and never had the alt go out again. Anyone else had this luck?

If you do end up having to get a new alt, which it seems like you will, get the higher output one...from a maxima or altima or...what the hell's it from???...something like that. Also, is there a higher output alt for a Z31?

i will probably just get a $130 alternator from oreilly's since i just splurged and bought slotted rotors and green stuff brake pads for my front wheels.

Well... if you are gonna spend big, freak... why not get an OPTIMA battery?

i have a yellow top optima battery in my z which i transferred from my other car ( i had a huge stereo system in my other car hence why i got the yellow top). anyways...there is a huge difference. the whole car smoothed out and and idle got smoother. now it purrs like a little kitty. haha. great battery. i ahve had it for about a year and a half and never had a problem. no complaints. worth the money especially when puttin in a stereo system in a car.

That's what I was going to reccomend as well. I thought I put that in the other post, but I guess I forgot. Oh well. I want to get one eventually, too. I've heard great things about them. You get one of those and put in the higher current alt, and you'll never have another problem.

yeah i am going to buy an otimum battery. but i just splurged today and bought slotted front brake rotors and green stuff pads. my rotors had grooves in them. so that is why i bought the rotors.

Tis good shit. And be sure to ask for an "Optima" battery when you get to the parts store or they'll probably look at you funny. :P

Congrats on the parts though. Tomorrow is going to be Z day for me...I'm off work and I'm getting paid...let the modding fun begin. Gotta pay for the HKS turbo timer I won on ebay last night and I'm going to buy a K&N cone filter. Also have to look into getting an exhaust...even though my car has no muffler and most of the piping is gone. (For the record, I bought it like that....have no clue where it all went.) After all that, it's boost controller time. :-D

yeah i am going to buy an otimum battery. but i just splurged today and bought slotted front brake rotors and green stuff pads. my rotors had grooves in them. so that is why i bought the rotors.

It sucks that they only make Front brake pads (Green Stuff) for the Z... I just bought some cross-drilled and slotted rotors for my Z but I have no pads yet... looking for a goood performance set still...

stillen carries metal matrix pads 4 the z. the hyperlink is below. they carry the back too. little more expensive but im sure there worth it.

http://stillen.com/sportscars_products.asp?make_id=23&model_id=280&StartYear=1990&EndYear=1996&cat=1&Brand=&subcat=263

I'm going to do a brake upgrade in my Z sometime in the future...that should be fun. There's not too big of a selection when it comes to big brake upgrades or even better-than-stock direct replacements for the Z31.

yeah, i have to definitely change my alternator. i was going into the best buy parking lot and my car died so i had to coast to a parking spot. and was actually kind of funny cuz it looked like it was all normal. but she started right up afterwards, it was pretty weird.

.....hmm.....

thats wierd. it seems to me if your car died while driving. that means the battery drained itself because the al isnt workin so it should definitely now have enough power to start after wards. ??????????????? r u sure its the alternator or maybe there is somethin wrong in some wiring. i am pretty sure z32 are notorious for wiring problems. my oil pressure guage works only have the time? who knows? im replacing it soon with a pod.

is there any way to check wiring other than visually? cuz i have tried to find stuff on my z and it isn't an easy job.

i know what your sayin. but not that i know of. i bought my z off a nissan dealership and i guess they did there little inspection on it and they found a few things wrong in the wiring that they corrected before i got to it. so im hopin that they found evrything. there are so many

wires runnin throughouot any car let alone the z that it is almost impossible to check anything out visually. i dont know how those japanese design these cars. got more shit crammed in then i ever thought was possible.

Ha.......you think these are complicated...you'd be amazed at what goes into a commercial airliner. :P