Need Help

[lildwell]

I was driving home tonight when my car started acting wierd. The speedometer and thermostat display got real dim and the air bag light came on. I made a left turn and the car wouldnt pull at all. I park and the car wouldnt start. So, I get a jump and the car starts but when i remove the cables it instantly cuts off. Whats wrong. I think I have and idea but its the worst case senario.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Sounds like you have a bad alternator.

[lildwell]

Thanks for the doom minister. Thats what I thought it was.

[Haitian_King]

Sounds like you have a bad alternator.

I was driving home tonight when my car started acting wierd. The speedometer and thermostat display got real dim and the air bag light came on. I made a left turn and the car wouldnt pull at all. I park and the car wouldnt start. So, I get a jump and the car starts but when i remove the cables it instantly cuts off. Whats wrong. I think I have and idea but its the worst case senario.

And this just happened out of the blue? No other warning signs? When my alternator was going, it gave me about 1-2 weeks of weirdness, like bouncing RPM's, half stalls, full stalls, and craziness.

[Q45tech]

If you had a digital voltmeter gauge constantly showing voltage inside you will eventually develop a second sense and become sensitive to the rpm vs electrical load voltage curve.That FIRST 0.1 volt drop will begin to set off warning bells in your head.

Or you can just wait until the alternator fails entirely but it is usually fast progressive.

Most don't understand an alternator has 3 separate windings and diodes in parallel and they fail one at a time adding stress to the remainder.

Alternators have been used in cars since the 60's so you would think a 50* year old technology would be understood by the average car owner but unfortunately not!"The availability of low-cost solid-state diodes from about 1960 onward allowed car manufacturers to substitute alternators for DC generators""Efficiency of automotive alternators is limited by fan cooling loss, bearing loss, iron loss, copper loss, and the voltage drop in the diode bridges; at part load, efficiency is between 50-62%"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternator

[Q45tech]

To produce 746 watts, 1 HP is required at 100% [impossible] efficiency so a 50% efficient alternator needs 2 HP on the input.So a 110 ampere [1500 watt] alternator can require up to 4 HP to turn.

Think about the rubber drive belt having to transfer up to 4 HP and why you need to replace belts every 30-60k just to be sure you don't fail on the road.Same situation with AC compressor which can consume up to 6-7 HP!

[MinisterofDOOM]

And this just happened out of the blue? No other warning signs? When my alternator was going, it gave me about 1-2 weeks of weirdness, like bouncing RPM's, half stalls, full stalls, and craziness.

I've had at least 6 alternators die on me (I lost count) with the Max. I've never had one do me the courtesy of giving any advance warning. Always very abrupt. Not so much as a difficult start or a lumpy idle before BAM dash lights and we're in trouble again (and I say "again" with as much inflection of irritation and unbridled rage as possible).

[qship96]

Removing battery cables from the battery while engine is running is a great way to destroy thousands of dollars worth of on board electronics!!!!

Not a procedure to emulate.

[Haitian_King]

I've had at least 6 alternators die on me (I lost count) with the Max. I've never had one do me the courtesy of giving any advance warning. Always very abrupt. Not so much as a difficult start or a lumpy idle before BAM dash lights and we're in trouble again (and I say "again" with as much inflection of irritation and unbridled rage as possible).

Wow. Mine gave me enough time to research the problem and diagnose it. I would have been livid if it had conked out on me like that.

[lildwell]

Wow. Mine gave me enough time to research the problem and diagnose it. I would have been livid if it had conked out on me like that.

Mine didnt give me any sign of a problem.