Ford Tempo alternator suddenly 18v after serpentine belt change.

Tiny
FIXITMR
  • MECHANIC
  • 1990 FORD TEMPO
  • 150,000 MILES
So grandaughter pops in to town to visit and stops by so I do a little underhood checking and YIKES! Serpinteine belt is hanging on by shreds! Then I see waterpump belt has huge crack! So I get busy and after 2 hrs fire it back up and she gets in and says. Why is that red light blinking? And I look and it's the alternator light flickering I tap on alternator and it goes to steady on. I go great, now the alternator died! But I get the voltmeter and it reads 17-18-19 volts! I'm puzzled? Was it something I did during belt change? No way? Friend sees grody groundstrap on head to fender and says clean that ans see. So I do and no go it flickers for a bit then I rev a little and it goes out and I rev higher and back on steady and stays steady bright, gets brighter with rev! Am I missin somethin or is just the will of the gods that want to empty my wallet! Alternator is at least 5 yrs old. It's a jap kind design denso maybe?
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Sunday, October 23rd, 2011 AT 5:38 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
RASMATAZ
  • MECHANIC
  • 75,992 POSTS
Replace the alternator its overcharging the battery sooner or later the battery is gonna explode
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Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 AT 6:51 AM
Tiny
FIXITMR
  • MECHANIC
  • 9,990 POSTS
So I take it to reillys and it fails to test first try in fact their machine goes down so they unplug/reboot and then try an alternator off shelf and it passes so then retry mine and it PASSES! So I take home and re-install and it works, 14.4 volts. Then I go to retighten conections bolts and I nick hot bolt and it sparks. Get in car to take ride and red light is ON again! So I unplug harness and go for ride anyway to check front end work and when I get back I plug harness back in and it's working ok again! SHEESH!
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Thursday, October 27th, 2011 AT 2:47 AM
Tiny
RASMATAZ
  • MECHANIC
  • 75,992 POSTS
CS
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Thursday, October 27th, 2011 AT 8:53 AM

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