Well I've had my car for almost 2 years and I've gone through too many of them. Right after I first bought the car, I had one go out and had the dealer replace it. Almost a year later, that one went out as well and had a local shop replace it. Now up to almost 8 months later that one takes a dive. The problem, I was getting a battery light at 5k RPM and my volts were dropping. So I decided to take the alternator out and have it checked, the results came back FAIL. So I thought great, picked up a new one and put it in myself... But I was still getting a battery light but past 6k RPM which I didnt think to much of. So barely even 2 weeks after I put the new alternator in, I'm having problems. I was cruising around at a local spot and noticed that my battery light had come on and was staying on constant. I looked at my volt gauge to discover that my car was running at 12 volts!!!!!!! I have no other noticable problems for 12 volts and a battery light. My car has been sitting in the garage all weekend untouched because I do not know where to start. I could use some help on this one guys...
Check the belt tension. My dad was always a stickler for belt tension. Either too tight or too loose can cause problems.
Also, check some of the grounds. The alternator could be working really hard to give you the power the car needs.
Originally posted by Phil Rohtla:
Check the belt tension. My dad was always a stickler for belt tension. Either too tight or too loose can cause problems.
I assumed that the tension was fine. I mean its tight, but not incredibly tight.
Originally posted by Phil Rohtla:
Also, check some of the grounds. The alternator could be working really hard to give you the power the car needs.
What grounds would you suggest checking? And where are they located?
got to remember that often a remanufactured unit can be no good, many have reported issues with remanufactured alternators failing with in a year ... might need to try an OEM alternator.
on the other hand we have had good luck with junk yard alternators, might be worth a shot and they go for about $50
Originally posted by BrApple-SeVT:
got to remember that often a remanufactured unit can be no good, many have reported issues with remanufactured alternators failing with in a year ... might need to try an OEM alternator.
on the other hand we have had good luck with junk yard alternators, might be worth a shot and they go for about $50
I'm pretty sure the alternators that I am getting are not remans. I have a life time warranty with the bosch model...
Well, you don't want it too tight. With tensioners, this can be less of an issue. I am just parroting one of the key things I was taught about alternators as a younger lad.
As for the grounds, I meant in gerneral terms. Believe me, if I had a map of all of the grounding points in the Contour, I would have posted it aeons ago.
If you are replacing the alternators with remanufactured units, that could be your problem. IIRC, that issue has popped up a lot on the boards.
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
Originally posted by BrApple-SeVT:
got to remember that often a remanufactured unit can be no good, many have reported issues with remanufactured alternators failing with in a year ... might need to try an OEM alternator.
on the other hand we have had good luck with junk yard alternators, might be worth a shot and they go for about $50
I'm pretty sure the alternators that I am getting are not remans. I have a life time warranty with the bosch model...
very good then, I would lean towards the tensioner then like it has been said, otherwise check that you are not getting remans
How do I go about diagnosing the tension? I mean I can feel it by hand and say oh its not too loose, and oh it doesn't feel to tight. Is there a set in stone method to determine whether the tensioner is good or not.
Just to add, by visual inspection my belt looks excellent. But in between quick hard shifts it'll squeel. Also it squeels pretty bad if i'm cruising at a good 50+ MPH pace, push in the clutch, rev it up and drop the clutch.
normally belts should have about an 1/4 inch of play in them when the tension is correct
So that would mean a 1/4" down and then back to normal. And then a 1/4" up... ?
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
So that would mean a 1/4" down and then back to normal. And then a 1/4" up... ?
in terms of deflection from where the belt rests, in between two pullies in the unsupported area of the belt, you should be able to move the belt up or down about 1/4 inch
edit: rereading better, I believe it owuld be 1/4 inch up or down, either way you need alittle slack in the belt wether it is up or down
I would say your grounds..most of the time...the negative terminals on the battery. Also go get your battery charged so the alt doesn't have to do it...that can be a big stress.
90 percent of the time (I worked at Autozone in college) when someone was going through alt... they had horrible grounds coming off the battery.
Ok, so check the ground cable to the battery. Where does this ground go to?
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
...and noticed that my battery light had come on and was staying on constant. I looked at my volt gauge to discover that my car was running at 12 volts!!!!!!! ...
Check megafuse and wiring to it.
Originally posted by Tony2005:
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
...and noticed that my battery light had come on and was staying on constant. I looked at my volt gauge to discover that my car was running at 12 volts!!!!!!! ...
Check megafuse and wiring to it.
Put it on my list. Thanks
Ohh this is funny!!!!
Have someone who isn't mentally retarded check out your car. I heard Chad could lend a hand
This is not funny! And I need to keep this a serious thread. I need to get my fuggin car fixed as its my daily driver. I start tearing sh!t apart today.
Does anyone else have any serious input?
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
This is not funny! And I need to keep this a serious thread. I need to get my fuggin car fixed as its my daily driver. I start tearing sh!t apart today.
Does anyone else have any serious input?
Its very funny, your such a drama queen!
So mess around in other threads... Have some respect please
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
So mess around in other threads... Have some respect please
Ya cuase you do right? LOL People told how how to fix it and what to look for.
want it done correctly and right? Ill fix it for you, fix the grounds and such as well.
Originally posted by Decepticon:
LOL People told how how to fix it and what to look for.
I'm looking for more input
Originally posted by Decepticon:
want it done correctly and right? Ill fix it for you, fix the grounds and such as well.
Are you willing to ride the R6 over my place because that car aint moving, and I'm not towing it...
No im not riding my scooter out there unless its worth my time. I can tell you what I would charge if you are seriously interested but i can tell you it will be more than your suspension install was. But it will have upgraded gounds etc etc
I cant afford that, hence the reason I'm doing all this stuff myself.
Welp good luck but, Its obvious your either getting [censored] alts or there is something wrong and no matter how many alts you change your gonna have a problem.
Your more than likly gonna have to pay a professional for fix it
I'm not paying anyone anything for this car. POS will be fixed by me from now on until the 3L swap comes.
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
I'm not paying anyone anything for this car. POS will be fixed by me from now on until the 3L swap comes.
Then your gonna keep having problems Good luck 
Originally posted by Decepticon:
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
I'm not paying anyone anything for this car. POS will be fixed by me from now on until the 3L swap comes.
Then your gonna keep having problems Good luck
Why dont you come over and just help me out? That would be the friendly thing to do.
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
Originally posted by Decepticon:
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
I'm not paying anyone anything for this car. POS will be fixed by me from now on until the 3L swap comes.
Then your gonna keep having problems Good luck
Why dont you come over and just help me out? That would be the friendly thing to do.
Becuase im not friendly!
There is a reason i get paid $110 an hour to do electrical stuff
You are to friendly, just not on CEG. If you are balling making that much money, then why do you want to take my broke asses money... Seriously, just try to help me out. If its too much of a hassle then you can just say screw it.
Originally posted by RawBurt...:
You are to friendly, just not on CEG. If you are balling making that much money, then why do you want to take my broke asses money... Seriously, just try to help me out. If its too much of a hassle then you can just say screw it.
Bring your car down here, Im not doing it for free either but i won't charge you the going rate. Ask roger how much he paid to have someone find a electrical short in his car!
I'm not towing it.
Thanks anyway.
Charge the battery and Drive it down
You two should get a room together
I have the exact same problem with my SVT. Bad alternators I guess.
-Steve
Who, me and Jason? That would be SaWEEeeeeet!!1!
This is probably a silly queestion, but you don't happen to have a high powered car audio system in your car, do you?
Not high powered, but I do have a system. Just a Infinity 4-Channel Amplifier (111 watts RMS at 4 ohms) powering my 4 pioneer door speakers and a single 10" sub. Nothing fancy.
I used to burn up an alternator about once or twice a year in my Escort as a result of car audio. Maybe you need a high current alternator, or maybe a capacitor ahead of your amp?
Maybe I'll just get rid of it, it wont make or break my day.
cap won't do anything to help it, Ussually puts more of a drain on system
Why don't you try a Ford alternator?
Wonder if it's the ground on the trans. from you trans removal. I'd check around for lose grounds.
I will definetely check that, as I am open to ideas. But I've had this problem before the trans swap.
I told Robert to check for a current drain with thew car off. Easy to do with a multimeter.
Disconnect the -ve form the baterry and put the multimeter inline with eh batter and ground wire to close the circuit. Of course switch the multimeter to the "current" function. There should be a VERY slight current drain from the PATS light and that's it. So long as the dorrs are closed, light off, and all that jazz. If you are seeing a few amps getting pulled then you have something shorting out causing a drain on the system at all times.
The belt tension is a BS problem. There's almost no chance that he is getting so much belt slip that he is losing voltage - I don't buy that for one second. The thing would be squealing like a pig if that was the case.
Also for him to have 5 bad alternators in a row is pretty high odds.
Other thing you wanna check for is the fuse and contacts for the voltage regulator for the alternator. Make sure the fuse isn't blown or had corrosion it or the connections, that would cause issues like your seeing.
Personally I think either he has some bad grounds, shorts in the system or bad +ve connections. Also have your battery checked in the off chance it has a bad cell.
One thing I would try is unhooking your amp/cap completely to see if they are possible bad causing a drain. Work your way through each electrical accessory you have, unhooking each one, one at a time. It's the only way to get down to the bottom of this debacle.
Thank you for the response Stazi. I appreciate it.
Originally posted by RawBroken:
Thank you for the response Stazi. I appreciate it.
I freakin told you on Saturday to disconnect your amp!!!
BAH. If I am around this sat I will see if I can give ya a hand.
Yeah throwing alternators at the problem wont solve anything. I see way too many people make this mistake on the newcougar forums.
The MegaFuse wire and Gnd wire to and from the alternator are likely to be damaged when your alternator failed the first/2nd time. This extra resistance in the line then causes your other alternators to fail.
Have those wires replaced. That should take care of your issue.
Its all about proper trouble-shooting and not just throwing alternators/money at the problem.
I dont believe the amp would cause such a problem. Though not impossible
Alternator came out today, life time warranty doesnt worry me.
Originally posted by GrandMasterKhan:
The MegaFuse wire and Gnd wire to and from the alternator are likely to be damaged when your alternator failed the first/2nd time. This extra resistance in the line then causes your other alternators to fail.
What gauge for each wire?
How much lenth for each wire?
Recommendations on where I can pick up the wire? Preferably not online.
4G minimum. I am not certain of the length. You should be able to buy it by the foot at circuit city etc, you might want to pick up a big ass fuse holder as well in case its melted. I cannot remember what the fuse needs to be rated at.
bet bet is to remove the insuation from the wire and check it near the fuse to see what condition it is in and report back here.