crosswound

Okay everytime my headlights are on the car looks like it wants to lose power. Since my charge battery light comes on and some other lights come on dimly. I turn them off the car is fine so that means its not the battery correct? So whats wrong? LOL I have 3 problems with my FD and I have no idea how to fix any of them and the white smoke is what scares me most.

MrVonWolfi

sounds like your alternator's going out.................

crosswound

Oh man are you serious? I was just hoping it was a problem with the battery.
Well i have to work on that white smoke tomorrow anyhow I'll also have the battery tested. Thing is when I rev the car when those lights come on dimly it goes away.

crosswound

Anyone else read this is it definately the alternator going? and if it is wheres a good place to get a replacement or will a used one do?

KungFuMonkey

sounds like the alternator, when battery light comes on it means the battery is not getting enough charge.

crosswound

okay so a semi permeant fix for this now would be to charge the battery full? also i was wondering wheres a good place to get a alternator for the FD? i'll buy it ahead of time and try to get it changed before the car breaks down lol.

nopistons94

charge the battery full? You mean run jumper cables constatly while driving another car next to you with both of your hoods open? I guess it's possible just don't do any one lane roads or just get 300 ft long jumper cables.

Seriously though, there is no fix. The alt charges the battery on the car, without the battery being charged by the alt, the car wont run.

crosswound

Oh I thought if I brought it to the store for them to check it. How they charge it I thought it would be a temp fix running with a fully charged battery, I guess not. Nobody has still answered me on where i can get a new alternator since i really don't want another used one since it has a chance of going out on me too soon.

Juan

iTrader: (28)

Have you tried finding one at your local autoparts store or even looked in the yellow pages? If not, we can't help you if you don't help yourself.

silver_7

U can probably get one from auto zone...they might have to order it. I think they give u a free replacement or warranty on them if they go bad after a certain time. White smoke...more info needed on that to correctly diagnose the problem. Is it only in the morning, is it all the time, how does it smell(sweet like coolant) etc. Or just type in white smoke in the search area and there should be a crap load of write ups on it. Hope this helps some.

David Hayes

iTrader: (6)

Pettit Racing (www.pettitracing.com) sells brand new OEM alternators for the FD. If you buy one elsewhere (like Autozone), it will be a remanufactured one.

What you could do until you get it fixed is to hook it up to a trickle charger when not in use. This will keep the battery charged. Of course, if the alternater is bad, it will run down until you get it fixed.

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

i might be blind but i didnt see alt for the fd on that site lol

silver_7

Pettit doesn't have a lot of stuff on their site. Even the brochures that I got from them have more parts in it than the site does. U have to call them.

crosswound

I'll call petitt racing on monday, the thing with the white smoke was me overreacting it didn't do it this morning. I just have to fix some minor things on the FD then she should be good. Thanks guys for all your help hopefully this alternator lasts until I get a new one.

Sickass7

Autozone quoted me over 230 bucks for an alt if I remember correctly (it was about 8 months ago) luckily for me it was just a junk battery.

crosswound

So you saying I should go get the battery checked just in case? Yea I might as well can't hurt any.

crosswound

whats the default power output for the alternator supposed to be mine was like 13.5 volts and 5.7 amps

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

get a multimeter and check the batter with the car off, should be 12.6..then start the car and measure to the battery again and it should be about 14.4 or somewhere around there..that shows that the battery is getting a good charge..if you see 14. something when the car is on but then get a low reading when the car is off, then the battery cant hold the charge and you need a new one..