Alternator causing my car not to run?

[DrMaxwellEdison]

as recently as about a month ago I replaced the seals on the cam and crank because they threw major amounts of oil out of my engine causing my OIL light to stay on most of my what should have been hour and a half (took over 3hrs 45mins) trip home.... now the Alternator is squealing (I presume from the oil eating up the bearings) and now when I put the car in drive it putts not even a foot and dies... it won't remain idling unless I accelerate with it.... I recently also changed the fuel filters and troubleshooted my injectors (had an extra set laying around from my parts engine) I'm getting ready to do an oil change and I'm guessing an Alternator swap (if it comes down to it I'll take it off my current daily driver just so I can transfer this one to DD status.... would the alternator bearings cause this? anyone have this happen to them and what did they do to fix it?

[WmWatt]

Alternators can be tested for free at many auto parts stores. A volt meter across the battery terminals will tell if it's maintaining charging voltage. I don't know if oil will damage alternator bearings but a tight belt is the usual cause of premature bearing failure..

[DrMaxwellEdison]

Well I know that the belt is squealing and that the alternator is smoking... it won't idle. anything that'd cause it not to idle and die immediately when put in drive (it's an Auto)

[DrMaxwellEdison]

used a voltmeter across the battery terminals and I was getting + 12volts but I turned the key and got < 3 volts with key on, I did this with my other (running fine) festiva and got 12.71 Volts with key off and 14.23volts with the key turned.... I know the battery can't be the issue because I've charged it up and swapped it with another known good battery and it worked until the voltage dropped too low... the charge light is not coming on, I'm guessing this means that the alternator is charging but it's weak voltage....

[Zanzer]

Did you check across the terminals with the engine running and all accessories on or did you just turn the ignition to the on position? You typically test an alternator with the engine running and all the accessories turned on, radio, blower motor, anything that pulls voltage. Then test across the battery terminals with your meter. A good alternator should put out at least 13.5V.

[pher]

If you got 3 volts over the battery when putting it on "ON", then there must be some sort of short somewhere. This goes hard at the cables and the battery if it just before turning the key to "On" was around 12 volt?

Perhaps the alternator if it smokes?? If you remove the cables to the alternator, do you get about 12 volt when turning the key to "ON" (with fresh battery of course)?

Guess you have to charge the battery again if you get a "short". This is not good for the battery.

I guess there are no "safeties" on the alternator cable to take the "short"?

Excuse my bad language, not an american =)

[DrMaxwellEdison]

only thing I have to pull voltage besides the lights is the blower/ac motor.... I don't have a radio.... I'll try it again after the battery charges a little.... I'm comtemplating swapping from V belt to Serpentine belt but that poses issue with the A/C compressor and my not wanting to mess with it (still R12) I can probably do something with it that I've not even thought of, then again that 's why I'm here. If I don't get to it today I'll probably wait till Monday and do it between classes since most of my afternoon is free on Mondays (grab an aspire Alternator or two and swap the pulleys



Det är okej, jag uppskattar den hjälp oavsett var den kommer ifrån. Hur är vädret i din del av världen? det är lite varmare än jag bryr mig om här, men att få svalare. Kör du en Kia Pride / Mazda 121 eller en Festiva? Alltid glad att höra från någon utanför USA. Jag har alltid varit ett fan av svenska bilar har min flickvän en 1985 Volvo 240 GL och den har aldrig gett oss några problem under de senaste 4-5 åren.

Ledsen om min svenska är dåligt, tack Google Translator. Hoppas få se fler inlägg från youhere på vår webbplats

[pher]

Hehe, some Swedish! The translation from Google is ok, but not perfect

The weather here rignt now is "Summer", but its been cloudy and it rained yesterday. Temperature is about 15-20 Celsius Degree today, dont know what thas is in Farenheit though.

Yea, those old Volvo are really quality cars, Volvo 240 and Volvo 740, really like them too. However here in Sweden the fuel is expensive, and those old Volvo are a bit thirsty. The taxes on cars that put out a lot of CO2 is also expensive, so I drive a Kia Pride, year 2000, no AC in the car.

I really like the Kia Pride, however, has some problem to...

I have my thread here:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23846

Hope you find you problem.

With safeties, I mean Fuse. Dont you have any fuse between the alternator and the car battery? Perhaps one of the coils in your alternator is bad, and is making a short circuit, therefore the <3 volt when turning the key to "On"?

A Short Circuit really tears your battery down and gets cables warm/sometime melting if no fuse is between.

[DrMaxwellEdison]

got around to testing the alternator yesterday. I started with a good battery and turned the lights on 11.23 amps, turn the blower on it dies because it isn't putting out enough amperage (so far as I can tell)

[DrMaxwellEdison]

New Alternator coming in in the AM.... hopefully since I have all morning and most of the afternoon to tinker with it I'll get it back on it's own two feet tomorrow....

[FestYboy]

got around to testing the alternator yesterday. I started with a good battery and turned the lights on 11.23 amps, turn the blower on it dies because it isn't putting out enough amperage (so far as I can tell)

how (why) are you measuring amprage and not output voltage?

[DrMaxwellEdison]

I meant volts..... had a moment.... or two... why I said amps I have NOOOO idea...

[DrMaxwellEdison]

fixed my charging problem, now I have to make an intake pipe because the end that attaches to the TB wants to be a pain...

[anomoly40]

What fixed it?

[FB71]

how (why) are you measuring amprage and not output voltage?

you're supposed to measure voltage AND amperage!

The two don't always correlate.