Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Going to drive over my '99 se, Alternator problems

I think it was at the point I missed a tbone accident by 15 seconds tonight I realize I should of let my car get hit!
Sorry for the rant.
Coming home from a random cruise tonight in my '99 SE, I missed a collision by less than 15 seconds, involving some jackball in a newer VW Jetta and a POS mazda sedan.
Less than a mile from home, the batt light comes on steady-flickering-steady-off-flickering, at less than 35 mph. Dash lights are starting to go.
I shut down my stereo, just a single amp, one sub, nothing pulling alot of power.
headlights still bright however.
Been having issues of high rpm flickering of the battery light, and I noticed the main wire harness looks fried.
Going to test the battery voltage in a short while, and the running voltage.
Battery is a motorcraft piece, 3-4 years old.
104k on the car, as far as I know, OEM alt.
I bought my car at 39k.
Have not touched the engine, anytime it needed something it was under warranty.
I have a trip next weekend, and this could not have happened at a worse time.

whatever you do do not run that battry any longer it may have already killed the alternator im on my 4th alternator right now. when i baught my car the stock original one was bad so it was replaced under waranty through the dealer. but the same battery was used. a month later my alternator goes again but i baught a battery( from autozone ) thinking it was ok turns out my old battery was bad and it what caused the alternator to die. thats how the second one went. the autozone battery died less than a yera later so they replaced it under warrant less than a yera latter my battery goes so i replaced it with whatever brand it was that tire kingdom sells since i was workign there. turns out autozone gave me the wrong battery twice. they had gave me a 41 instead of a 47. so i had drove home with my new correct battery. the next day im losing power because i was runnign off just the battery. and thats how i got to the 4th alternator. so whatever you do dont get a autzone battery. and if the battery you get isnt big and doesnt fill all the space it might be the wrong one. so far its been all good but i need a new positive cable. the factory one looked bad. i might change both terminals out tommorow.

please please have the alternator rebuilt or replaced, change the battery. Try and DIY it'll save you a lot of money but if you must, it is a more expensive job because of the lack of space within the engine bay.

Well, after spending some time under the hood; My positive battery cable was melted at the terminal by the battery post; I checked the resistance and found it had some slight resistance, around 3/4 of an ohm, which I can only imagine was a minor part of the problem.
I checked the voltage output, and as described after doing a search on the boards, found 12.60 volts at the terminals.
I turned the lights on for one minute and started the car, and watched the voltage hit 14.39 volts, and then after tapping the throttle drop to 12.3 volts and hover around there. The battery light flickers on and off, and any time the gas pedal is tapped, the light comes on.
I have the top of the line motorcraft series battery installed in the roughly 3 years ago by a budy who used to work at a ford dealership, he got it for his cost, and the battery tested good. I worked for a autoparts place years back, and the chain here used a really good computerized tester.
One thing to consider if that the vehicle's battery is not fully charged, it WILL kill an replacement alternator. Ask me, I know after dealing with a reman unit for my explorer.
I went to see on a slim chance at to of the u pull it yards here to see if I might find a good alternator, as they sometimes yank the drivetran and set them out on a row incase someone needs a complete engine, ready to go.
Only found one 2.5, but the alternator was siezed.
The rest were 4 cylinder cars.
It rained all day Sunday, so I wasn't able to remove my unit for testing.
I checked around for a 100% new unit, and holy hell sticker shock. I am used to the 70's and early 80's ford units being maybe $50 for a reman alternator. Not $200!
On the brightside though, I finally did my plug wires with a set of accel wires given to me, and found my waterpump belt is overdue for replacement.
GOing to pull the unit out tonight and get a new piece, and thans to the info here, I am going to only cuss and scream half of what I might normally do.

Well, thanks to the guys who did the Alternator removal FAQ as it was a good guide.
It still took me around 3 hours, mainly because the 13mm bolts did not want to break loose until I soaked them with oil for 45 minutes, and hit them with my 1/2" drive impact.
I discovered the underside of my engine is starting to be fairly covered in oil, but not from leaking valve covers; Most likely the pan gasket is due, but that will wait for right now.
The case had the a-typical crack.
I dropped it off a local starter and alternator repair shop here that's been in the same place for 50+ years; they showed me, one brush was pretty much gone, other was about there.
The reason behind the cases cracking is plain and simple the corrosion and rust, which over time puts force on the casing and cracks it.
They are going to completely tear it down, use hd brushes, clean up the shaft, and repaint the entire assembly for me, and give the case a light polish for $75.
The guy there said typically the brushes fail, and that takes out the alternator.
When I go to reinstall this thing, I am doing thing things a bit different however, and I am going to source some new grade 8 metric bolts and bolt it in from the fenderwell instead of the engine compartment, after I drill a 3/4" hole in the frame rail and reinforce it with a piece of tubing and weld it in, so I never have to go through such a act of congress to remove and install an alternator in this car again. I know this seems overkill, but if I ever meet the first year understudy engineer that designed the layout, he's getting a size 14 steel toe boot to the head.

Well, I picked up my rebuilt alternator; I ended up getting basically a new unit, except the case. He replaced the rotr assembly, put a new regulator on, hd brushes, shot blasted and buffed out the case for me. All for $80 with tax.
20 minutes to reinstall the alternator, get the bolts back on, and hook the belt back up.
All issues fixed, even my CEL is off now, even after driving it around for 25 miles last night to check it out.
No issues with Dash lights, headlights are 100% again.

Just wanted to say thanks to the guys again for the ALT install FAQ.

You got a nice deal on your rebuilt alternator, and it works!