about to change my 4th alt in 2weeks well maybe

[ThatShoGuy]

now i know i have asked around here about this b4.

but for it to **** so many one after another is it really a bad alt or could it have some kind of short somewhere causing this prob?

i dont wanna change it again. and be doing it over and over for somthing that is stupid!

i know alot of people have had probs with there alts but come on! this many bad one in a row after 300miles at most on them! shit this last one anytime i hit over 4k in rpm's the battery light was on, now that the light is on all the time if i am around the 4k mark it will shut off? what gives wit that.

then if i put the car in revers and hold the brake and some throttle(2krpms) the light shuts off and my radio cap shows 14.2volts. also noticed while drivin it back home. that the closer it got around 4k the less bright the battery light was.(couldnt watch the cap while drivin)


thanks in advance

good thing i still got a year and 8months for my warranty!

 

[ThatShoGuy]

well not that it will say anything but....

i moved the car so the gf could go to work.

the light didnt come on the cap read 14.75volts. since its early and im sick i didnt go for a ride or rev the motor to see if the light came on....

i assume its got to be somthing getting wet being an issue.

 

[bacernate]

How old is the battery?
A discharged battery will **** an alternator!!! Making it work too hard.

 

[bacernate]

Loose battery cable will cause it to work too hard also. What brand are you using? Get your money back and get a motorcraft from Ford.

 

[ThatShoGuy]

well the battery is new just before the alt took a crap. when the alt acts up the battery hasn't got under 12volts

heres a thread i had back a little while ago it has a pic of the box when i got the last replacement!
http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=95997

and a little more info on what i had goin on.

 

[SHO.fast]

have you been getting a NEW alternator everyt ime you have had to get a new one?

or

did you get the current alternator recharged?

 

[SWM]

I chased the same problem for a long time. In mine it turned out to be oil fouled battery cables. I replaced ALL the cables including the fusible link to the fuse box and all was good again. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ThatShoGuy]

have you been getting a NEW alternator everyt ime you have had to get a new one?

or

did you get the current alternator recharged?

well im unsure what your asking

but the box said fully re manufactured not rebuilt so i assume it has all new parts every time Ive gone back to the parts store they have handed me a replacement over.

 

[ThatShoGuy]

what does it mean to have an oil fouled battery cable?

the motor has been removed 2 times along with the 5 or so time i have changed the alt since i have owned this car.. so im thinking that theres a break in one of the wires.. im think im gonna run new wiring like you suggested!

thanks

I chased the same problem for a long time. In mine it turned out to be oil fouled battery cables. I replaced ALL the cables including the fusible link to the fuse box and all was good again. Just my 2 cents.

 

[SHO.fast]

well im unsure what your asking

but the box said fully re manufactured not rebuilt so i assume it has all new parts every time Ive gone back to the parts store they have handed me a replacement over.

i was asking if you had put a brand new alternator in it every time it craped out

because if you were recharging the same alternator that could be your problem

i would spend the extra buck and get a real ford motorcraft alternator

 

[1995SHO9]

i was asking if you had put a brand new alternator in it every time it craped out

because if you were recharging the same alternator that could be your problem

i would spend the extra buck and get a real ford motorcraft alternator

I think you mean having the alternator rebuilt, not recharged

 

[Bizzy]

have you been getting a NEW alternator everyt ime you have had to get a new one?

or

did you get the current alternator recharged?

How do you recharge an alternator? Can you have that done at shops that refill blinker fluid? :angelnot:

OP, do you have a maintenance free battery? If so, it could have been damaged when the alternator croaked. MF batteries are not meant to be fully discharged.

Make sure that your terminal connectors are clean and tight on the battery terminals and that the terminals are clean as well. Double check the leads down near the starter, if they're dirty or oily, spray that area off with some chemtool and then wipe it down or allow it to dry.

You might also take the car to Autozone or Advance and have them test both the alternator and battery while the car is running to see what the output is while the car is running.

 

[ThatShoGuy]

I think you mean having the alternator rebuilt, not recharged

thats what i was hopin for

How do you recharge an alternator? Can you have that done at shops that refill blinker fluid? :angelnot:

OP, do you have a maintenance free battery? If so, it could have been damaged when the alternator croaked. MF batteries are not meant to be fully discharged.

Make sure that your terminal connectors are clean and tight on the battery terminals and that the terminals are clean as well. Double check the leads down near the starter, if they're dirty or oily, spray that area off with some chemtool and then wipe it down or allow it to dry.

You might also take the car to Autozone or Advance and have them test both the alternator and battery while the car is running to see what the output is while the car is running.

thanks for your info.

but while the car is running the on my sub amp cap reads 14.75volts .

when the light was on the cap only read 12.25volts, after sitting over night it worked again.

now the last time the alt took a crap it killed the battery to dead. i did recharge it at 2amps so far thats been fine.........

i do know that the wiring by the starter is a little dirtied up i didnt think it was a issue since the car did still start. gonna have to take care of that. but why could that cause a issue?

 

[SHO.fast]

yes i meant have the alternator rebuilt not recharged whatever same thing kinda :laugh_ti:
:wave:

 

[DaSho97]

Do you have any subs, or amps in your car? My friend was having the same issues with his focus because the subs were taking up to many watts from the alternator which kept causing them to fail. Id also do what Bizzy susgested and bring it in to autozone/advanced auto to check what the problem is, there might be a short somewhere.

 

[Bizzy]

yes i meant have the alternator rebuilt not recharged whatever same thing kinda :laugh_ti:
:wave:

I know what you meant, but I had to razz ya.

Do you have any subs, or amps in your car? My friend was having the same issues with his focus because the subs were taking up to many watts from the alternator which kept causing them to fail. Id also do what Bizzy susgested and bring it in to autozone/advanced auto to check what the problem is, there might be a short somewhere.

I believe he does, otherwise he wouldn't need a cap on his battery. But now that you mention this, it could be a problem. My son killed his alternator on his car (not a V8) exactly the same way. To my understanding the cap is supposed to take care of issues like that by storing extra juice for when it's needed, but I guess if you have some monster system installed that it could still be a problem.

I also know that on the V8 a weak battery can screw all sorts of things up, that's partly why I asked about his battery.

 

[wymjym]

I assume you would like to resolve the issue.
1. Remove any accessory components that were not original to the car. You keep referring to the cap's voltage reading.....if you've added extra stereo equipment, unplug it while trying to determine the cause of your failures.
2. Document how the alternator performs without the extra load, hot, cold, low rpm, high rpm...write it down so that you can refer back to this information if need be.

now then...if life is good and there are no issues you need to decide how important the accessory is to you, if you need it (super stereo) then you will need an upgraded alternator or at the minimum one that is rebuilt locally where the shop understands that they will be responsible should it fail

if you still have an alternator issue even with stuff disconnected I would initially suspect that one or several of the diodes (within the rectifier circuit) is getting hot and partially failing..if it is, then the symptoms will occur more and more often at lower and lower temps...until it simply won't charge anymore.....at that point I would have it rebuilt locally or find a low mileage OEM unit and install it.
good luck
wj

 

[Bizzy]

Very sound advice.

 

[ThatShoGuy]

thanks for the great info.

but the amp is hooked up but i haven't used the sub and amp since this alt has been installed and its been installed b4 the issue started so i assume i could rule that out.

i do have a 4gage wire ran to the rear of the car that has a 1/2 frat cap on it and that is ground to the body with 2 8 gage wires so i assume connection is good ther? i guess it still could be killing the alt??

now how would putting the car in revers cause it to start charging again? only thing i can think of is a short?

also no super system its only a 1000watt amp and kicker cvr sub i believe 1000watt also and the amp is only 1/2 way up. all the wiring but the remote wire is hooked up so the amp dont even turn on.

I assume you would like to resolve the issue.
1. Remove any accessory components that were not original to the car. You keep referring to the cap's voltage reading.....if you've added extra stereo equipment, unplug it while trying to determine the cause of your failures.
2. Document how the alternator performs without the extra load, hot, cold, low rpm, high rpm...write it down so that you can refer back to this information if need be.

now then...if life is good and there are no issues you need to decide how important the accessory is to you, if you need it (super stereo) then you will need an upgraded alternator or at the minimum one that is rebuilt locally where the shop understands that they will be responsible should it fail

if you still have an alternator issue even with stuff disconnected I would initially suspect that one or several of the diodes (within the rectifier circuit) is getting hot and partially failing..if it is, then the symptoms will occur more and more often at lower and lower temps...until it simply won't charge anymore.....at that point I would have it rebuilt locally or find a low mileage OEM unit and install it.
good luck
wj

 

[wymjym]

if putting it in reverse allows it to charge then I would assume you have a connection problem....who knows where!
as to super vs not so super stereo.....the point is, anything that has been added will most likely be the cause of the problem, eliminate that potential until you resolve the problem
good luck (again) wj