Is a 2005-2006 Nissan Altima a good car?

96 Nissan Altima: is my car just running off of the battery?

• A week and a half ago I found out the alternator in my 96 Nissan Altima needed to be replaced. My battery had to be jumped a few times before I could get it replaced last week on Tuesday. While I was driving home from the repair place, the car died in the middle of the highway. It wouldn't crank, and I couldn't even put on my hazards. The repair shop drove out and tried to give me a jump, but the battery wouldn't hold a charge so they had to tow it to the shop. I picked up my car the next day, and the tech manager told me that my battery had a bad cell, and explained how they found out. They checked all of the connections, all of the wires and ran 3 different tests. I believe one of them was a voltage test, because he mentioned that my battery didn't have 12 volts. They ran my car all day on one of their batteries, and the alternator charged it just fine. I replace my battery but now I'm parinoid that I'll break down again. The car has been working just fine for the past 4 days, but just to make sure, I went to Autozone to get a multimeter. They ended up testing the battery, which read 12.6 volts and 100%. When I started the car, he said something about the alternator having a bad regulator, and said that it wasn't producing enough volts, and then was producing too much. He had me turn my car off, and told me that my car was running off of my battery because it was only at 89% now. I asked how that was possible since I've been driving my car for 4 days and he couldn't give me a straight answer. Any ideas? Am I worrying over nothing?

• Answer:

  Sounds like your alternator. You need to replace it if you haven't already. Your alternator charges the battery and while your car can run without one, it can't for long. Replace the alternator. Also check your starter if it wouldn't crank.