Ok so last week my car had the symptoms of a faulty alternator. The car was loosing power..electronics were movin slow..felt like the car was just running off the battery. So a week later rolls around and I get a new alternator..I just installed it and it started up fine and i went along my way.. about 3-4 min later the car dies again just as it did last week. I went under the hood and the alternator was extremely hot.. whats wrong here?

Heres something else that was weird..Do you know the connector that clips into the back of the alternator..on the original(first dead one) i never plugged the thing in..and my car ran fine for a month until the first incident. On this installation of the new one I found a clip that fit the alternator hanging down by the battery so i clipped it in this time...

anyone have any ideas?

 

on top of this when i went under the hood..the pully on the new alternator had a coating on it that was basically melting off

 

something else to add...

when i went to go start the car after installin the new alternator the battery was dead.. so i jumped it.

do you think the new alternator was being forced to work too hard since the battery was dead? it was a brand new battery


i think this might have happend? http://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl185h.htm

 

I'm no pro -but it sounds like an electrical problem. Maybe look around for a shorted wire.

 

Try cleaning your battery terminals, both positive and ground cable. Make sure the grounds from the engine to chassis is good also. There's a few of them. Just my .02 cents.

 

Yes, that is possible. On the Bosch Alternator web site, they specifically warn against recharging a dead battery with your alternator. They state that the alternator is not made for the extended high amperage load (even on their high output units!) recharging that dead battery places on the unit.

http://www.boschautoparts.com/Resour...rsStarters.htm

Can I use my alternator to recharge a discharged battery?

No! When installing an alternator, the battery should be fully recharged before vehicle use. In many cases, depending upon how thoroughly discharged the battery is, it can take 4-8 hours. Most technicians and DIYers don’t want to wait that long so they just get the vehicle running, and figure that by driving the car around the alternator will charge the battery. In some cases with weather extremes the battery never gets fully charged, and in all cases the alternator is being overly stressed asking it to do a job it was not designed to do. This leads to premature failure.

Yet, we have all done this at one time or another. Keeping mind there is a difference between jumping a car that just doesn't quite have enough juice to start and jumping one that is completely flat and discharged.

A tip: If you have time, hook up the jumper cables letting the jumping vehicle charge the battery for a 5-10 minutes. Then, after starting the dead car, leave the cables attached for 5-10 minutes more. This might spread the initial recharging load to both alternators, minimizing potential damage.

 

do you think the new alternator is **** now?

 

Might be. Take it in and get it tested.

The reason your battery died is that you didn't hook up all the wires.

 

for sure... missed that in his first post.

good luck, hope you get sorted out.

 

well what does that clip that connects to the back of the alternator do? i had the ground wire on... the car ran fine for a month and a half no problems

 

Well, it's kinda complicated, so I will put this in layman's terms, as easy to understand as possible:

It makes the alternator work correctly.

There, simple and concise.

Good Luck!

 

haha thanks..but how the hell did it work without it for so long

 

ok new problem i guess. I charged my battery at autozone..and i had the alternator tested 3 times.. the test came out good. so i brought the alternator and battery home and installed them. the car started right up and i drove it around my block to make sure everythin was good...and it was. i drove it for a good 20min..half hour and then the same thing happened again! i started to lose power..slowly..the cd player went off and then back on...and eventually the car completly died. what is wrong with this thing?!!!

 

if the main fuse was blown...would the car react this way?

 

No, Main fuse wouldn't cause that. Although the B terminal on the alternator goes to feed the Main Fuse...then the battery thru the Main Fuse.

You said you found a plug near the battery and plugged it to the alternator. That sounds strange.

Pull the small plug off the alternator. Tell us what the color of the wire is. Like a green wire with orange stripe, or black wire with blue stripe (all made up colors).

I think you have the wrong plug on the back of the alernator. It not getting an excitation signal.

Do all your warning lights come on when you go to ON with the key? Should. It's part of the alternator good/bad warning circuit.

 

the way its hooked up now...all the warning lights do come on on when the key is in the ON position.

 

maybe your car hates you ?

I thought there would be a alt fuse under the hood.

 

What are the colors of the wires on the plug.

As far as fuses, the EGI fuse powers the R terminal on the small alternator plug. IF the EGI fuse was bad the car wouldn't even start.

If the MAIN FUSE was blown the starter would'nt work.

The only other fuse would be the one that powers the Warning Light cluster and you say the lights light up. So it's not blown.

You need to go to Harbour Freight and buy a cheap digital volt meter and measure the voltage at the B terminal of the alternator while the engine is running.

What are the colors of the wires on the alternator plug.

You might try driving without any audio whatsoever turned on and see what happens.

 

the wires on the plug were white and yellow...one all white ..one all yellow.

 

if thats not the plug..i cant seem to find another one. the car seemed to run fine for a while with no plug at all if im not mistaken.

 

still need some help

 

sorry to bump..but still lookin for insight on this

 

tryin again...

today..with a new battery, a new alternator and no plug/connector anywhere in sight for the back of the alternator..just the ground wire i strated the car and it ran fine..i drove it for over an hour. this is exactly how my car has been running since the motor was rebuilt. i thought i fixed it... BUT i just went out to go for a drive now and the car started right up but once i let it warm up and started driving my problem came back. it all starts with the cd player going off ..then comin back on..over and over and eventually the car loses all power. wtf is goin on...i cannot figure this out. i have no idea why theres no clip on the harness to fasten into the back of the alternator..but my car has been running with out it since before these problems started

 

Ok, so you don't have the plug on the back of the alternator, it's missing in action? You must hook up the 'S' terminal to the fuse box; the correct place is the EGI fuse, it could alternately go to the Battery. The other terminal 'L' goes to the inside charging lamp. I will try to find the wiring diagram. Maybe the wires were cut off in the loom and you can find them. This would be far better that running new wires.

Hold tight............................ Here you go. Try to find the wires in the loom nearby the alternator. If not, run new ones. The minimum required is to have the 'B' terminal and the 'S' terminal. Without the 'L' you can have problems, but not deal killers like you currently have.

Good Luck!

 

it would make sense to say that fixing the issue of no plug in the back of the alternator would solve my problem...but.. the car has been runnin without it before this problem. thats what makes this real confusing