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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Trucks / December 2005alternators
how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? Kirk  SignatureLIGHTNING NEWS Newsgroup access for as little as $5 per month Private & Anonymous! LIGHTNING fast Unscensored Downloads! ALL THE NEWSGROUPS at www.lightningnews.com > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? > Kirk Put a voltmeter on the battery terminals while the engine is running. Make sure you have at least 13.5 volts. If not, the alternator is not charging properly. SignatureDavid M (dmacchiarolo) http://home.triad.rr.com/redsled T/S 53 sled351 Linux 2.4.18-14 has been up 2 days 16:17 > > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? > > Kirk > > Put a voltmeter on the battery terminals while the engine is running. > Make sure you have at least 13.5 volts. If not, the alternator is not > charging properly. And turn on all the lights and accessories for a load check. > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? > Kirk Many auto parts stores will check it for free. Auto Zone is one of them. They can check your battery too. > -- > LIGHTNING NEWS > Newsgroup access for as little as $5 per month > Private & Anonymous! > LIGHTNING fast Unscensored Downloads! > ALL THE NEWSGROUPS at www.lightningnews.com By far the easiest way is to go to Advance Auto Parts, or about any of the chains. They have a machine that can test the alternator and battery with them still in the car. They can even load test the alternator. Best of all, it's free. CJB > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? > Kirk Another sure fire way to check your alt. if you have access to it. while the engine gunning, hold a screw driver close to the center of the back housing. There should be a very strong magnet pull to the screw.driver! it will pull it quickly to the center of the rear of the alt.(it is the place where, on most, it looks like a smell freeze plug covering the end of the armature)! > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? > Kirk "sergesleo" wrote: > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? > Kirk the easiet way to do it would be to loosen the battery connection on one end and turn the vehicle on and then take the battery connection off, if the car stalls that means your alternator is no good This can damage the voltage regulator on some alternators. Better to do a load test with the engine running. Proper voltage (13.5ish)with increased load and charging current indicates a properly functioning alternator. > "sergesleo" wrote: > > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > one end and turn the vehicle on and then take the battery connection > off, if the car stalls that means your alternator is no good Sorry, that should have read: proper voltage and charging current under increased load indicate a properly functioning alternator. > This can damage the voltage regulator on some alternators. Better to do > a load test with the engine running. Proper voltage (13.5ish)with [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >> one end and turn the vehicle on and then take the battery connection >> off, if the car stalls that means your alternator is no good > "sergesleo" wrote: > > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > one end and turn the vehicle on and then take the battery connection > off, if the car stalls that means your alternator is no good Please don't take this extremely bad advice. The poster doesn't know what he's talking about. Doing the above is likely to damage the regulator, the computers, and many other portions of the car's electronics. What the poster suggests will cause a load dump and a large voltage spike on your electrical system. Instead, measure the battery voltage while the engine is running, with some load on it (ie. headlights). If it is around 13.8 volts the alternator is probably OK. You can take the vehicle to any of your local parts stores; most of them will do a free load test of the battery and charging system. SignatureDavid M (dmacchiarolo) http://home.triad.rr.com/redsled T/S 53 sled351 Linux 2.4.18-14 has been up 2 days 5:59 >> "sergesleo" wrote: >> > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > of your local parts stores; most of them will do a free > load test of the battery and charging system. -- Take it to a garage and have it checked, free at Canadian tire in Canada. Geoff. |
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