Alternator?

[Shoboy3]

I am trying to help my neighbor out who has an '89 Taurus LX with the 3.8L and no computer access! The car has been running good, she drove it home from work Thursday and while on the way home the climate control was acting up (on and off periodically), then the radio turned to static, she nursed it home (10 miles), parked it and the next day all it would do is click, then she asked me to look at it today and the battery was almost completely dead and while trying to start it, the battery quit. So, I jumped it with my car and after a few minutes the car started up. I proceded to remove the jumper cables from my car and her car completely quit (after a few seconds), tried it again hoping it would stay running...NOPE. It just keeps dying, and I told her I thought it was alternator but I would try to find out for sure.

Sorry for the novel but I am trying to help her out, and there is one problem. The nearest garage is 5 miles away and we can't keep the car running for 5 seconds. Anyone got any ideas other than towing it????

Thank you!

 

[Shoman94]

Shoboy3:
I am trying to help my neighbor out who has an '89 Taurus LX with the 3.8L and no computer access! The car has been running good, she drove it home from work Thursday and while on the way home the climate control was acting up (on and off periodically), then the radio turned to static, she nursed it home (10 miles), parked it and the next day all it would do is click, then she asked me to look at it today and the battery was almost completely dead and while trying to start it, the battery quit. So, I jumped it with my car and after a few minutes the car started up. I proceded to remove the jumper cables from my car and her car completely quit (after a few seconds), tried it again hoping it would stay running...NOPE. It just keeps dying, and I told her I thought it was alternator but I would try to find out for sure.

Sorry for the novel but I am trying to help her out, and there is one problem. The nearest garage is 5 miles away and we can't keep the car running for 5 seconds. Anyone got any ideas other than towing it????

Thank you!

Remove the connections at the battery...clean them.....reinstall and try it again...if that doesn't work then you'll have to either charge the battery overnight so you can drive it during the day to a shop or replace the alternater yourself.

 

[Shoboy3]

I was suprised how easy it was to remove the alternator on this car....about 5 minutes. The guy at AutoZone tested it and said it was a piece of history. The only problems we have had is the belt must not have been reinstalled correctly as it started to shred off (rib by rib) after we started the car and let it run.