Alright, here's my situation. Within 24 hours, the following has broke:

A) Waterpump
B) fuel hose
C) battery died
D) alternator now doesn't charge.

Here's my issue, the alternator will NOT charge, and the car barely reads 8volts, yet none of my idiot lights come on like the normal warning for the alt being screwed up. Can anyone shed any ideas/things I can test to figure out why my car isn't charging?

(87 NA)

 

Wow, doesn't that just suck. All those problems going wrong all at once. Well, try to change the battery with a new one first. If you're battery is really dead, your alternator might not be able to charge it. As for fuel hose, just replace it along with the water pump. But yeah, going back to the charing, replace your batter first and see what happens. But it could be as simple as a short somewhere. Check your fuses too.

-Chris

 

I've got a & b fixed, the battery is new as of 2 weeks, so i'll goto walmart and get it swapped, explains why my idiot lights didn't come on?

 

Oh, fuses checked good as far as I can see

 

hmmmm... to check and see if the alt. is faulty after you get the car started, pull the positive cable off the terminal if it shuts off... then yea your altenator is junk

 

you could bring th alt to a local autoparts shop and test it.

 

did you put the belt back on after you replaced the water pump?

 

Well, my question is this.

a) why have my idiot lights NEVER come on, even when the car isn't running
b) why aren't the on now that the alternator is toast (once i charge the battery and drive away, i can make it till the battery runs out)
c) what kind of voodoo magic can I try to fix it

 

Didn't you buy an FD alternator or am I confusing you with someone else? Anyway, there is some sort of wiring mix up from the S4 to S6. Of course if the wiring is hooked up wrong, the idiots lights won't come on.
If it's not you, disregard

 

Yeah, I've been driving it for 2 days after that, and i double checked

 

I've got an FD alt in my S5, this is my s4 I'm having troubles with, stock alt. Basically, here's what's happened today.

1) Last person to drive it left the lights on, totally killed battery (clock would barely come on)
2) jumped it, let it run/charge for about an hour, took it for a long drive, everything good (14volts like normal)
3) let another person drive it and they didn't turn the key all the way back (DOH) and left the radio on for quite a bit of time, cranked over slowly but started
4) drive home, get about 8-10 miles away and my radio cuts out, uh oh! lights start dimming, still no warning lights, so I pull over, car stalls, turn key back on, dead as can be
5) jump it for about 30 mins, up to 12volts, start it, goes to 11
6) drive home, it's at 9 and dieing, still no idiot lights

Any ideas? Perhaps the -14 w/-35 windchill is kicking my ***?

 

hmm you should do what phatfc3s said to check the alternator obviously, but for your idiot lights not to come on is mind boggling. maybe they fried or somethin. ehh, i'm not an electrical expert, but keep us posted on what's up with after all the testing and stuff.

-Chris

 

Yeah, if it wasn't so farkin cold i'd whip out the DMM and check to see what the alt's spitting out at me. What would happen if the plug on the back of the alt were disconnected or shorted out or something? Would it still throw the lights off?

 

Hmm...here's something I learned about lead acid batteries and this does not apply to deep cell. You probably already know this.... When batteries drain to 10V or less, the plates in the battery start to corrode and pretty much chokes the batteries. It will not charge after it has started the corrosion effect (such as the white residue around the terminals). When batteries are discharged, it's imperative you charge it as quickly as possible. The batteries won't hold charge and will not charge even after driving it for hours. It will show12V when charging but will drain very quickly from 12V to 10V in an instant click of the starter.
Maybe your problem is related maybe not.

 

If the wires are not connected I'd assume the idiot lights will not come on since one of the wires are for that and the other for trigger.

 

Well, I was rather wondering if the alt dumps power regardless, because I'm pretty sure it's not the battery, i'd see 14v even if the battery were shot, and it's less than 2 months old, and wasn't dead for more than 2 hours total, so I'm pretty sure it's the alt, just wondering if that connector has anything to do with it putting power out, I'm going to check the + terminal in a few with a DMM and see what I can find. Thanks for all the help!

 

I remember he was the one touting his s4 Alternator as comparible In volt output to that of a FD Alternator. Look now.

 

Santiago? Not sure who you were talkinig about, but as far as volt output goes on mine, 14.8, not that volt output matters much anyway. I sure didn't say anythinig of that sort in any of those threads.

My CPU is screwed, doesn't throw the idiot lights for my alternator, so I just rigged up my s5 alt on there for now, working fine again, though I had a short in the +12v on the 2 wire plug that needed to be fixed.