Started out I had a bad battery, replaced it, it ran well for about a week without problems. Coming home from town after that week it died on the road. After a few days of messing around we used a volt meter to determine the alternator was bad, as the battery could still hold a charge it just wasn't charging, and the alternator was putting out about 5 volts at 2k RPM. Bought a new alternator, stuck it in, and now I get no lights, no cranking, no clicking, only the beeping when the key is in the ignition and the door is still open. Have checked the grounds, the battery terminals for corrosion and tightness.
It's worth mentioning that when removing the old alternator, I had trouble getting the bolted lead off (not the plug) with a ratchet-wrench. It tore up that assemply a little but, only on the alternator, but it also sparked a sec. This made me realize that in my genius I had failed to remove the cables from the battery, so I did this and continued removing the old alternator. The new one went on easily, all the mounts were in place and the belt is nicely tight. I've checked all fuses indoor and out, not sure what else to try. Sounds to me like a bad cable maybe somewhere, but I don't know how to test that. Also we tried jumping it to see if it was just the battery but there was no change. When hooking the car's battery up to a wall-outlet battery charge the gauge drops to 5 (not sure what it's measuring but I know it goes up to 15, which means it's empty, and 1 is full.)
So, I'm stumped, and need to get this car running soon. Let me know if you need any further information.
It's worth mentioning that when removing the old alternator, I had trouble getting the bolted lead off (not the plug) with a ratchet-wrench. It tore up that assemply a little but, only on the alternator, but it also sparked a sec. This made me realize that in my genius I had failed to remove the cables from the battery, so I did this and continued removing the old alternator. The new one went on easily, all the mounts were in place and the belt is nicely tight. I've checked all fuses indoor and out, not sure what else to try. Sounds to me like a bad cable maybe somewhere, but I don't know how to test that. Also we tried jumping it to see if it was just the battery but there was no change. When hooking the car's battery up to a wall-outlet battery charge the gauge drops to 5 (not sure what it's measuring but I know it goes up to 15, which means it's empty, and 1 is full.)
So, I'm stumped, and need to get this car running soon. Let me know if you need any further information.
Jul 2, 2007 at 4:27 PM