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

    You can register to join the community.

HELP - Replaced Alternator & Battery. Car Still Dead

9

96RedSE5Sp

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
1,477
Location
Upstate NY
My car died on the road a couple of weeks ago. I had the alternator replaced
and it was fine for about a week. A couple days ago, it would not start - the battery was completely dead. Even the horn wouldn't work. (Strangely, if I slammed my door, I sometimes got enough power for the horn to work once and for the PATS lights to come on).

I replaced the battery yesterday and it started right up. Today - dead as a doornail again.

Any ideas? I got this in Florida last summer. Please someone tell me that this doesn't sound like flooding-related electrical problems. I am curious as to why the alternator would suddenly die with such low miles).:shrug:

[It's a '98 SE Sport 6 cylinder 5 speed with low miles (36K)]
 
My alternator died at 35k miles. You have a short somewhere. Unfortunately, the only way to find it is to run an ammeter across circuits.
 
Was your charge light it on, or is it STILL on after replacing the alt/batt?
 
Recharge the battery (with it disconnected). Check with ohm meter to see if there is a low reading less than 200 ohms across the battery wires. Run the car with the fully charged battery, if the voltage is 12.6 or less, your alternator is not charging, could be megafuse, alternator, wiring, blown foglamp fuse. If it is 13.5-15 volts, alternator works, and something might be on, like dome lights..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top