Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Alternator - Battery?? Do they even know?

Guys:
Contour is giving me some trouble,

I recently need to correct a broken speed sensor,
After this job was complete,

I was driving home, after about 6 hours or so driving, right before my destination,

The Battery flickers, then pops on.
It has stayed on since.

I quickly ran it down and had it tested by a local mechanic..(who i don't know)

They hooked it up, and said yeap, it is the alternator,

What do you guys think??

A few more details,
He put a flash-light screw driver in the alternator and the flash light lit up,

Secondly,
The Temp of the car now runs much cooler on the gauge??? Now on R VS the usual A.
Seemed to happen right after the light???
Could this be a sign???

Let me know what you guys think,

I am set to replace the alternator Monday, but don't want to if I can help it.

Also - It is a 4 cylinder, 96 GL. - Is this a big job??? How many hours can i expect


Thanks in advance,

Ben -From Gburg.

Go start your car and disconnect the battery.If the car runs fine your alt. is good.If it dies it would be a bad regulator or alt.

Gauge is voltage driven, if the voltage is down it will throw it off a little. Quick way to check to see if the generator is working is to place a voltmeter across the battery terminals. 12.6 (or higher)is normal battery voltage when all the cells are working. When the engine is running it should be 13.8 to 14 VDC. If not, no output to the battery. There is a fuse on the alternator (an AC generator) that blows on these cars. Run a search because a few in the group have replaced theirs.

do not start your car and disconnect the battery you will damage the diodes in the alternator it sounds like your alternator is not charging easily checked via a multimeter

What 2X95SE said.
Check the voltage across the battery with a multimeter, should read in excess of 12 volts if all is well, with the motor runnning.

12 volts is not enough. If you only read 12 volts you will most certainly have a problem.

The proper process was already described. Check the battery voltage with the engine off. It should be about 12.5 to 12.8 depending on the state of charge and condition of battery. With the engine running, preferrably at about 2000 RPM, the voltage should be between 1/2 volt and 2 volts above the reading that you had on the battery with the engine off, depending on the state of charge of the battery. A low battery will have a lower voltage reading and a well charged battery will have a higher reading. 14 volts running is a reasonable rule of thumb.

If the alternator is not charging, make sure that the fuse in line to the alternator hot lead (B+, or battery plus, or main battery lead to the alternator) is not blown. This can be confirmed by checking voltage directly at the alternator B+ connection. The voltage there should be the same as the battery voltage.

same thing just happened to me, light flickered then stayed on. had to get it replaced.. and works fine now..


trust me it sucks replacing it, but if you know what yoru doing 1 hrs time.

same thing just happened to me, light flickered then stayed on. had to get it replaced.. and works fine now..


trust me it sucks replacing it, but if you know what yoru doing 1 hrs time.

Very old mechanics trick that went out with internally regulated alternators (20+ years ago)

Unfortunately folks still try it and end up frying all sorts of things...