• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Battery light

ok, thanks. I will check tonight and will let you know. but does anyone know what can possibly caus an alternator to go bad? is there such a thing? I was told that all alternators from PepBoys were problematic...anyone else shared that experience?
 
The brushes wear down or stick, or the diodes fail, regulator problems. I would get a Motorcraft if I needed one (check Bill Jenkins or rockauto.com) .
 
yeah, i know that. i meant to ask, if there is something in the car itself that can cause a brand new alternator to burn within a day. what could be the reason for them to die within 100miles of usage? other than being all defective, brushes shouldn't wear out so fast. i jsut took the new one out and will go to replace it again tomorrow. the thing is that i already paid this thing a few months ago, and i have lifetime warrany on it, so i can replace it, but i can't get a refund...thus i don't feel like spending another $200 for another alternator, especially if it burns again in 2 days or so.

thanks for the info btw. you have all been very helpful (as always!!)

p.s. i checked my belt. the tensioner is strong and keeps the belt tight. the tab is right in the middle. i also checked all the fuses on the engine side...i have 7 altogether (three of which are 15amps) and they are all good. no burned fuses found. are these numbers good, or am i missing something?
 
what if you return it as defective? the new autolite alternator I picked up caused my lights to flicker and it was bench tested at 15 volts and i sometimes saw 15 volts on my gage ... I pulled it out and returned it for a ful refund as defective because it was ... I think the diodes where messed up and allowing ac current through and that is why I got flickering at rpm ... oh well when the one I have really goes out I will just get a new Motorcraft one and hopefully be done with it ...
 
hmmm

hmmm

ok, so i went to pepboys and somehow returned the alternator. then went to carquest and got a remanufactured one. there, i was told that if the battery is very dead, that could cause the alternator to burn because it's charging to maximum for long time...while it's designed to keep the battery alive, and not recharging it completely. so i took my battery to advanceautoparts, and they said that battery had bad cells...its like 5 months old. so i also got a new battery. installed everything and it charges to 14.5v, but i noticed that sometimes voltage goes to 9v and then back to 14.5v. is that normal, or is it supposed to be at constant level of 14.5v???

the only thing left is to go to the shop and ask them to hook up the wire from the alternator to the starter (now it goes to the battery directly). could that also be a problem??? anyone?? where are all the experts???
 
9 volts seem alittle low, did the volts did when you turn on an accessory? I noted on a stock 99 SE that the voltage would drop to about 12 volts when turning the headlights or the A/C on, but it would come back to 14.3 which was where it was at idle


so was the voltage drop random or when you applied a load, ie lights or A/C or defroster?
 
8000RPM said:
...could that also be a problem??? anyone?? where are all the experts???
Click to expand...

Those who have answered your questions are (or close to being) experts having experienced similar battery issues.

Per brapple, did the voltage drop randomly or did it drop when you applied a load (lights, a/c, defroster)?

In addition, the wiring (and all accessories) need to be properly installed before you can determine if the Battery/Charge problem is continuing.
 
the drop in charge was random when car was at idle. i didn't load it with anything. I checked the voltage this morning and was pretty good. didn't go below 14v and when i turn the lights on, it will go down to 13.6, which i think is normal...
yeah, with the new alternator and new battery it should be all good. my only concern is the alternator main wire going straight to the battery + terminal. i went to the shop where they installed it that way, and the owner was blah blah blah blah, i have this certifications and that, and i knwo everything...stupid azz. but finaly he claims that the original cable from alt.->megafuse->starter->battery is one entire cable. thus it shouldn't make any difference if it is split in two cables: 1) alt->megafuse->battery and 2) battery->starter...i dunno. i am confused with that thing.
either way, the car now works fine. i will see if that alt lasts for more than 100miles and if it does...i will be happy:))
 
My car started doing this last night. the light started flickering while i was driving and very quickly, it increased to staying on whenever i the car was moving. the light flickers or is off completely when idling. the car seemed to be idling higher (around 100) rpm. what does this sound like? i am buying a new car sometime next month so i don't want to put much more money into it. maybe something i can do myself? what does this sound like? there was mild corrosion on my positive battery post, but i cleaned that and nothing changed.
 
light went off

light went off

so i went out tonight. flickered all the way to my friends house. when we got back, i got in my car and the light was off completely for the entire tride home. any theories? maybe a bad sensor or ground? is there a sensor?
 
DanburySE said:
so i went out tonight. flickered all the way to my friends house. when we got back, i got in my car and the light was off completely for the entire tride home. any theories? maybe a bad sensor or ground? is there a sensor?
Click to expand...

I had the same situation. It was on no matter what I did. Then I got it tested, drove it home, revved the hell out of it in all gears on the highway...and nothing. Next day it wasn't holding a charge for the life of it. Needless to say, I needed another Alternator installed. This was only 4 or 5 months after I had already replaced it.

Your symptoms are more than likely the start of a failing alternator. If you're not looking to invest into fixing it, I say set it off to the side and try to find another ride to commute. Otherwise it's going to break down much faster. That's only my opinion, you're entitled to whatever you want though.
 
BrApple said:
what if you return it as defective? the new autolite alternator I picked up caused my lights to flicker and it was bench tested at 15 volts and i sometimes saw 15 volts on my gage ... I pulled it out and returned it for a ful refund as defective because it was ... I think the diodes where messed up and allowing ac current through and that is why I got flickering at rpm ... oh well when the one I have really goes out I will just get a new Motorcraft one and hopefully be done with it ...
Click to expand...

Odd thing is, the one I had put in was surging like crazy. It peaked 15.2 a few times, and dropped as low as 13.5, it never really stayed in one general region. My lights, and allthe accessories were pulsating, and the horn made it apparent too. I did the wire fix, and it generally stays around 14.0 - 14.1. With the lights, fogs, radio, and the A/C, it drops to 12.7, but jumps right back up to 13.9 - 14.1. I imagine if I get a new battery it'll be a little higher, as the battery I'm running at the moment was the one that I had jumped and killed well over 15 times the last time the Alt. failed on me when I was about 10 miles from home on the side of the highway.
 
need advice

need advice

how long do you estimate it may last? light came on for first time a 2 days ago. it is on today too, but not as severe. it flickers above 1500 rpm instead of being on constantly above 1000. how much does this repair generally cost? i am trying to save up a down-payment for a mazdaspeed 6 but need to wait until mid november.
 
i think that the alternator will last about 50 miles of driving from the moment the light will stop flickering. same thing happened to me. it was blinking over 1500rpm for 10miles or so, and then it stopped. car was still going, but sucking juice from the battery. i was 40miles away from my home, so by the time i drove back, the battery was almost dead. i changed the alt, and it died 2 days later:)) lol. so i changed it again, with different brand and got a new batery (the old one had dead cells caused from the bad alternator and me driving it 40+miles, thus it wouldn't hold charge) and now its fine. just as before. but light still flickers above 6500rpm. i think i need that wire fix..
 
Hmmm.. today my car did a battry light light flicker when i got to 6k rpm .. i got super bad throttle hang i hit the gas agian and it went down.. related?
 
more questions

more questions

what is this wire fix you guys are talking about? last night my car completely died and i barely got it to the shop. i was driving home. as i pulled on to my street my tach went to xero but the car kept running fine. as i got to my house the lights were dipping. i parked and tried to start back up again. click click click and wipers sweep. came back out 30 minutes later and it starts. come back about 15 minutes later to bring it to the shop and its dead. jumped it and barely got it the half mile to the shop. o, and my right rear window wont work now. could this be related? i am afraid this could end up being a wiring issue and the money i have i want to use on a mazdaspeed6 in a few weeks.
 
DanburySE said:
what is this wire fix you guys are talking about? last night my car completely died and i barely got it to the shop. ...
Click to expand...
Alternator wiring in Duratec Maintenance. Also check Fuse 5 for fog lights and make sure fog light holders are not corroded.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top