Nissan Altima: Need a little diagnosis

My 95 Altima got rear-ended a few weeks ago by a Ford Explorer. My
car's damage is fixable. The driver side rear light was crushed along
with the sheet metal around it. In fact, I have spent the past two
weekends to get the car back to a much nicer looking shape. The only
remaining job is to repaint the damaged part.

However, I do have a little sticky problem with the electricity
system. Since the accident, my dashboard metering light is gone and
so are all the meter functions. I could jump start my Altima but it
won't stay in charge. In a few engine startup, I can use up all the
power stored in the battery. It may sound like either battery problem
or alternator problem. However, battery was replaced about 6 months
ago. Alternator was dealer-replaced from a brand new alternator about
6 years ago due to a faulty alternator. The total milage on my Altima
is only 46K miles.

My questions:
1. Could it be loose wire somewhere that goes to the dashboard meters?
2. Is there a fuse box, or set of fuses, I can check for dashboard
meters?
3. Since the impact was not big, and there was no airbag deployment, I
don't think the accident caused the electricity failure. Could it be
a shorted wire to cause burnt fuse somewhere? My cursory checkup
under the hood does not find a single burnt fuse. Are there other
fuses under dashboard?
4. Even if it was fuse problem, why would it impact alternator's
charging?
Thank you very much!
Bob

Have the battery checked out, there's a chance the impact could have jolted
some of the cells.
Also you might want to look at the starter, it could be drawing to much
power.

"Rob" <com> wrote in message
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