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Alternator not charging

C

cntrnewb

New CEG'er
Joined
Sep 23, 2007
Messages
24
Hey guys I am sure this situation is going to baffle the living crap out of you all. I need serious help

Ok I got a no charging light on my alternator so I pulled it and replaced the alternator. Put the new alternator on the car and no charging light so I thought I was good. At this time I was getting a low coolant light, which is odd becuase i put new coolant in.

I have also installed a new water pump, thermostat, and new exhaust system.

Put the new alternator on and still not charging the battery becuase my meter is only showing 11.9 volts with the car running. When I disconnect the battery the car shuts off.

We pulled the alternator off (again). And yes we figured out how to remove the alternator without taking off the axle , exhuast, etc.. All u need to do is unbolt the wheel, sway bar end link, and tie rod end. We had the battery tested, and it tested good. Tested the alternator and it tested good. Brought it back to the house re-installed it and brought out the volt meter.

We check the mega fuse and its good (opened it up and looked), then check for voltage at the alternator on the wire coming from the batt. Both showed the same voltage so we have continuity there.

with the ignition on the green/black wire going to the dash from the alternator is showing the same voltage as the battery which is telling me that its getting power from the battery and sending that signal to the car. (explains not seeing a no charge light)

Once we start it up again no charging. I am at a complete loss at what to do!

My best guess is that the charging system is on the same circuit as whatever trips the low coolant light. However the haynes and chiltons manual circuit diagrams completely suck.

We checked the fuses and they are all good, none blown.

HELP!? and good luck figuring this out becuase we're lost now!
 
I have this exact same problem! I just put a new ATX harness in an MTX contour but I don't think this is the problem. My coolant reservior is full and the alternator is all hooked up. However, the coolant light and no charge light stay on while the car is running. My engine idles at 3000 RPM (I'm sure that's another issue...) and is not charging the battery :(
 
Craziness! Only my no charge light is off. that's the only difference but i think our situations are linked
 
cntrnewb said:
Hey guys I am sure this situation is going to baffle the living crap out of you all. I need serious help

Ok I got a no charging light on my alternator so I pulled it and replaced the alternator. Put the new alternator on the car and no charging light so I thought I was good. At this time I was getting a low coolant light, which is odd becuase i put new coolant in.

I have also installed a new water pump, thermostat, and new exhaust system.

Put the new alternator on and still not charging the battery becuase my meter is only showing 11.9 volts with the car running. When I disconnect the battery the car shuts off.

We pulled the alternator off (again). And yes we figured out how to remove the alternator without taking off the axle , exhuast, etc.. All u need to do is unbolt the wheel, sway bar end link, and tie rod end. We had the battery tested, and it tested good. Tested the alternator and it tested good. Brought it back to the house re-installed it and brought out the volt meter.

We check the mega fuse and its good (opened it up and looked), then check for voltage at the alternator on the wire coming from the batt. Both showed the same voltage so we have continuity there.

with the ignition on the green/black wire going to the dash from the alternator is showing the same voltage as the battery which is telling me that its getting power from the battery and sending that signal to the car. (explains not seeing a no charge light)

Once we start it up again no charging. I am at a complete loss at what to do!

My best guess is that the charging system is on the same circuit as whatever trips the low coolant light. However the haynes and chiltons manual circuit diagrams completely suck.

We checked the fuses and they are all good, none blown.

HELP!? and good luck figuring this out becuase we're lost now!
Click to expand...



what year and which car is and what digram you need tell me by pm or here and i will send to you in pdf if i have it i send to you
 
my alternator was replaced 3 times in a row the problem. main fuse bad false contact replace with aftermarket one the mechanic do the job.


i send to you by pm the diagrams just download are ziped and in pdf
 
but i checked my main fuse and it shows the same voltage on both sides of it.
 
Check fuse F5 (under hood box). It's labeled as the foglight fuse, but it supplies field power to the generator and will kill charging if open. It feeds in on the RD wire of the generator.

If you need further assistance, post your year, engine, and production date of your vehicle. Yeah, it's important or I wouldn't tell you to supply it.

Steve
 
I will check it, here is the other info.
1997 Ford Contour, 2.5L V6, Manual, and where do I get the production date from?
 
Yes, you should.

Do you have an owner's manual? www.fleet.ford.com

click "maintenance" (at the top) then "manuals". download the PDF version of your manual.

Replacement Alternators aren't always good. Testing good (by autozone standards) doesn't always mean anything, either.

You said you "looked" at the megafuse. I am assuming you mean the fuse located at the firewall, behind the coilpack. This is "the" megafuse, but I've seen others be confused and call other things the fuse as well.

When you measured the fuse, you measured the voltage difference between which points?

I am assuming the following:

the battery positive and one side of the mega-fuse
then
the battery positive and the other side of the mega-fuse


If so, you have a break in the wire between the battery and the megafuse.

If you did the above, only from the NEGATIVE terminal to either side of the fuse, then its likely a good fuse, but I would test resistance across the fuse to be sure. Looking isn't concrete.
 
I used alittle fuse tester with a light on it if thats what you mean. I dont have a test light per say. So should I go ahead and replace the mega fuse anyway? even though there is no break in the line?
 
No don't just start replacing parts you will spend a lot of time and money on stuff that ain't broke.

Do a proper test on the fuse as Ray pointed out a light will work just fine. Contact Todras and get a ford cd for your car he sells them cheap. It has all the info you need in it.

Since you have a 97 was the wiring harnesses replaced under the TSB? If not there could be an issue with that causing problems.

Fuse F5 is in the battery fuse box in the engine compartment. It is not always an F5 it is another position on my 99, and some 98's are a little different, but your 97 most likely is F5.

Another thing is I had to replace my alt, and the one I took off tested good. Yet it was bad. These cars are sensitive to correct voltages, and the old test of disconnecting the battery while the engine is running is not a good idea. The battery works somewhat as a power quality filter. Anyway your's is a charging issue. That fuse you say you don't have is usually the issue with that, and it is always called something else like has been mentioned as foglight fuse. I forget now what it was on my 99 but it did not mention the charging circuit. The testing at the AP's doesn't do a good enough job on these alts and voltage regulators. The regulator could be weak and they didn't catch it.

my 2 cents,
AF
 
cntrnewb said:
I dont have an F5 fuse. Suggestions?
Click to expand...

That's the hazard of NOT providing specific information about the vehicle in question. F5 is for a later model.

The 97 uses a different fused circuit to supply feedback to the regulator. Specifically, it uses F4 which also supplies the coil and the PCM Power relay. Since those presumably are working, the fuse is not open. However, I'd highly recommend you get a voltage reading on that red wire at the regulator connector to see if you have na open circuit between there and the F4 feed.

Steve
 
Where can i find the production information on the vehicle at? And swapped in a third brand new alternator and still nothing, so the alternator is not the problem. The red wire coming off the alternator. Mine is black if you mean the thick one that goes to the battery via the mega fuse.
 
RAY, Aussie Ford and SHO have great points that need to be checked. I was looking through some old posts and found this posting. ( http://contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=20530&highlight=Alternator+schematic )Look through it (read ALL OF IT and see if anything adds up). Also think of literally anything that may have been donr to your car that has to do eith the charging system. Post it back here...
 
LOL if you follow that post and check out the references they lead to my post about my alt issues...

http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=19313&highlight=alternator

While this is a 97 and is unlike my 99 in the way it is wired the issues are similar and it may provide useful information.

The bottom line is you need to do the checks and if there is something that gets in your way figure out a work-around for it that will give you the same results. Having a ford cd from Todras is a real help and he sells them at a reasonable price. That has all the test procedures in it.

Did we discuss your alt I can't remember..... but if you are putting in a reman alt and now days all proper alts are remaned. Then it should be good. What is a proper alt the only one most of us would recommend is a remanufactured Motorcraft alternator for these cars. There are no new Motorcraft alts left for our cars. Other brands while they may check out as far as voltage have proven to have various flaws in them (mostly winding issues) or in the regulator and brush assy. This causes pulsing of power output under loads and can be seen as a slight flicker of the lights at night. As I said our cars are particular about power and what might be a slight variation that would be tolerated by some other vehicle, ours do not.

For now let's say your alt is fine, and your symptoms point to a wiring issue. Follow the checks. Don't be surprised if it leads you to the problem of the wiring harness TSB for 95 - 97's. But find the issue at hand first.

AF
 
Ok, update: I have installed another NEW alternator, bench tested it first. Tested good.

Replaced mega-fuse, good test for continuity across terminals. Checked out good.

Wired up a new harness to the alternator. the ground wire on the harness is screwed into the back of the alternator. I'm assuming it is a good ground but will double check. Traced green/black wire back to the interior no breaks or frays so its good.

optima battery is on the charger now, Also checked the number 30 fuse interior and #5 under the hood, both are good. Everything checks out ok so it should be working fine.

Turn the igntion key on and the charge light is off (never comes on)
If the bulb is burned out on the charging light will the alternator charge the system?

Turn the car on and battery is showing 11.8 so no charge. WTF.
 
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