is my alternator bad?

kuwait · Aug 26, 2009

so i had my supercharger installed for about 2 weeks , i drive the car daily and just last night i started the car normally and i felt that the lights are bit dimmed , i thought no big deal , drove to get some groceries and just as i was parking the ABS light came on as i was turning the key off and getting off the car , when i came back the car seems to have no power and cranking the car would give a "tick tick tick" kinda noise , so i thought it was the battery , i asked a friend to jump start the car for me and it idled perfectly , battery gauge needle where it is supposed to be and as i was driving back home the needle kept falling down unless i mashed the gas really hard all the way in , long story short , i was losing power as i moved to the extent that the engine barely run with a full throttle hesitating and almost dieing and it wouldn't go past 1k rpm on full throttle , so i parked it , jump started it and tried to leave it idle for 5 min , it idled perfectly at first for 2-3 min then it got worse till i lost the gauge readings then it died , is my alternator going bad?

R.J. · Aug 27, 2009

Is the voltage at the battery above 14v at idle?

kuwait · Aug 27, 2009

R.J. said:
Is the voltage at the battery above 14v at idle?

i am not sure , i don't have a voltmeter at hand but i will check it today once my friend comes around.

kuwait · Aug 27, 2009

the car doesn't seem to idle at all without another car supporting it , after putting a fresh new battery , it would start flawlessly and idle aswell , but the moment i remove one of the batteries nodes off , it shuts off immediatly , is the alternator completely gone?

Greenscobie86 · Aug 27, 2009

^
That sounds like an alternator to me..

Did you put in a reman.'d one? Sometimes they go bad right out of the box.

Check the connections on the back as well. Maybe something is loose? It's only 2 connections though, a push in connector and a terminal held on by a nut.

GDawg · Aug 27, 2009

When the car is running, touch the center back cap of the alternator with a screw driver and see if it's magnetized. If it is, it's working, if it isn't, it isn't working.

Doesn't mean that it still doesn't have a problem though. If the magnet test passes, I would check the connections on either side of the alternator wire going to the battery + post. You may have high resistance on that wire for some reason, mostly bad/loose connections.

kuwait · Aug 27, 2009

Greenscobie86 said:
^
That sounds like an alternator to me..

Did you put in a reman.'d one? Sometimes they go bad right out of the box.

Check the connections on the back as well. Maybe something is loose? It's only 2 connections though, a push in connector and a terminal held on by a nut.

no , its the stock one and absolutely nothing changed with the car , its just that for a while i been getting the battery light flashing at times but it stopped along time ago that was even before i put the supercharger in , and now this after 2 weeks of putting my supercharger in , and if i had high resistance wouldn't work even if i had swapped the battery?

GDawg · Aug 27, 2009

When you are hooked up to another cars charging system, it started your starter not your car and it may have charged your battery just enough for you to drive a little bit till it ran down again.

When you installed your supercharger did you have to move your alternator or extend any of the wiring? Try that magnet test I mentioned. If it passes, most likely it isn't the alternator but something else like your wires.

kuwait · Aug 27, 2009

GDawg said:
When you are hooked up to another cars charging system, it started your starter not your car and it may have charged your battery just enough for you to drive a little bit till it ran down again.

When you installed your supercharger did you have to move your alternator or extend any of the wiring? Try that magnet test I mentioned. If it passes, most likely it isn't the alternator but something else like your wires.

nope , no extension or any kind of modifications , and i took the alternator to be examined and it seems there are few burns in it so i am assuming its busted , as the mechanic told me and that i need a new one

GDawg · Aug 27, 2009

kuwait said:
nope , no extension or any kind of modifications , and i took the alternator to be examined and it seems there are few burns in it so i am assuming its busted , as the mechanic told me and that i need a new one

"A few 'burns' in it"...? You mean your stater windings or your diodes... or maybe worn brushes? Don't get suckered... You sound like you're not wanting to listen to my simple advice or simple testing methods but instead pay the money... go ahead.

kuwait · Aug 27, 2009

GDawg said:
"A few 'burns' in it"...? You mean your stater windings or your diodes... or maybe worn brushes? Don't get suckered... You sound like you're not wanting to listen to my simple advice or simple testing methods but instead pay the money... go ahead.

its not that i want to pay the money , but by the time you suggested that method the alternator was already out of the car and the back was disassembeled , here is a picture of what i saw under the cover , i am a complete noob when when it comes to alternators so i would like your valued input on the matter.

GDawg · Aug 28, 2009

Your rectifier bridge looks a lot better than mine. I have bad diodes. Doesn't look like I can rebuild it. I'm going to "Pull and Pay" next week and see if I can't find a good one for $25.

Yours looks much better than mine. I thought my alternator was a 130 amp but found out it's a 115 amp. BS. Do the mag test installed. I pulled mine under 20 min. and reinstalled in 5 minutes. Do the test.

is my alternator bad?

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