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Alternator Dead? kinda long post 200

posted by  Severious on  Wed Jul 23 09:15 CST 2003
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Hi everyone.

I belive my alternator is dead and I was wondering how I would go about checking to make sure. I don't want to go and buy a new one for 150 and find out that was not really the problem.

The other day I was driving home from my friends house at night the car started up fine but soon I noticed that the battery light was on and that the usual pulsing of hte lights that annoys me is no longer happening. I had belived previously that the pulsing was coming form the voltage regulator and I had intended to replace that. So now the pulsing was gone and witht he battery light on i was convinced that the alternator was not charging the system. The car made it home after I tured everything off in the car that used power except the headlights. By the time I got home about 30 miles away the headlights were very dim. So I belive I was just running on the battery.

If once I get my car started and the alternator is not working once the battery drains sufficiently will the car stall?

So once i go home I ordered a new voltage regulator hoping that was hte problem and not something mroe pricy.

I took out the alternator and changed the voltage regulator. While it was on my bench I tried to test it's power generating ability by hooking up a multymeter a whole slew of differnt ways to the various prongs and then spinning the pully but i never got any kind of significant voltage change out of it. This makes me belive that there is something more fundamentally wrong with the alternator than the voltage regulator. Is this a correct assuption?

I assumed that with a voltmeter, I tried both dc and ac from all differnt variations of the connecitons and never got anything more than a 1/100 of a volt change spinning it as fast as i could by hand.

Does anyone have a better way to check if it is dead?

Am I going to have to replace my alternator?

btw, the connecitons to the alternator seemed to be without flaw and hte belts seemed in good shape and tight enough but not overtight.


Thanks

Scott Dallmeyer
--
1989 Volvo 240 DL 193k Miles






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New Alternator Dead? kinda long post [200]
posted by  Severious  on Wed Jul 23 09:15 CST 2003 >


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