I am very new to the world of forklifts but have been in the automotive industry for 20 years, so forgive my forklift ignorance.

I have a 2005 Nissan forklift, Plate says MCUGL02F36LV

This is the only forklift that I've driven at length. We bought it used and has under 3000 hours on it.

The battery died within 10 minutes of getting it delivered. Bad alternator. I replaced that and it's been running fairly well since, but there are still problems and they all stem from what I think is it idling too low.

The battery died the other day after using it for a while doing small precision moves. I checked the voltage and I found that at idle, with no (hydraulic) load, the alternator is barely putting out 12.4v. When you load it up the idle drops even more and the battery will discharge. If you rev the engine just slightly (like maybe 100-150 rpm from no load idle), it jumps up to 13.5V.

Some things I'm just not sure if they are a problem as I have no other experience to compare them to.

1: steering gets stiff at the ends of the travel. Seems to drop the idle enough so the power steering drops out. The other day it stalled on me.

2: at idle even at full lever travel, the forks move VERY slowly. If you put a load (say a few hundred pounds) they stop and you have to rev the engine for the forks to move.

3: not idle related, but after the truck sits a little while, if I start it up and put it into gear, it seems to take 10 seconds to get the juices going and fully power the wheels. After that it's fine. Hydraulic oil level is good.


Any info on these concerns would be great. I looked for a place to adjust the idle and it seems it's all computer controlled drive by wire. Is there no place to adjust the idle on this one? Or am I barking up the wrong tree and there is another problem?

Thanks,
Mike