Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 99% Sure Its My Alternator, Help with other 1%

Brief history of problem:

1998 Contour SE 24V Duratec/Manual/112,000

Bought used, had since 2002.

About a year ago noticed lights were dimmer, and would flicker a little when driving at night. Though either batt or alt.

6 months ago while driving on highway car basically shut off. RPM's dropped, MPH did, all lights down to barely being on, clock went dim. Would let of gas for a while and would come back to life, run as normal for 1 minute then repeat. Clock DID NOT reset and all settings including radio stations were remembered. ONLY would do this when I went over 70, while under 65 was fine, light still flickered a little. Thought was either voltage regulator or alt. I understand the volt regulator is on the alt?

Yesterday, low batt light was flashing, when rpms increased while driving it would go away. Drove about .5 mile and rpms, mph dropped, and car was acting like it was gasping for air. All lights dimmed same as before. It shut off and I could not restart it. BUT, radio stations still there, clock still right, interior lights still bright as before. Got a jump and ran for about .2 mile and did the same thing. Jumped no problem.

It will not start without a jump. I believe it is the alternator. I had the battery tested at autozone 6 months ago when first happened and read OK, not perfect but ok. Put on a full load and still read ok.

Everyone think its the alternator? REcommend where to get a new one/link on how to put it in? Any tips for putting one in? Thanks, much appreciated.

Oh boy! Dealer $600 or so. But go to Main Site, Duratec Maintenance, and you will see on the second line, there is a post for most maintenance and how to items. Ray did a alternator change with pictures. I have not have the misfortune of needing to do it myself yet but it seems to be a bear.

Main Index (not Main Site), Duratec Maintenance, 2nd Line-FAQ Duratec Maintenance.

Hope it helps.

If the car is running what is the battery voltage? It should be 13-15 volts. If less than 12.6 it is not charging, which could certainly be the alternator. Check the belt and the wiring. My neighbor had a battery fail, and his car would only start with a jump. Try a new Motorcraft battery because it is made to fit correctly. Or, retest the existing battery after fully charging it with a battery charger. I hope it's not the alternator..

Before jumping on an alternator replacement:

is your battery light on all the time, or only at certain rpms?

A STEADY battery light (actually has nothing to do with the battery... it is actually a CHARGE state light) could indicate either a faulty alt (not charging at all) or a bad "megafuse" not allowing a GOOD alt to charge the battery.

a flickering light would tend to disprove the megafuse, but point to the alternator itself, or POOR wiring between the battery and alt, or ground.


Ray

This is The Ray who posted the alternator replacement with pictures. I would listen to him.

Thanks for the replies. The batt indicator light is not steady, it flickers heavily and goes away as I start to accelerate, usually comes back a little when i lay off the gas.

I'll test my batt again tonight.

I cleaned off the terminals and battery a few months ago so they are clean and I checked that they are receiving good link.

The main thing that makes me think its the voltage regulator is that whenever I would go above 70 for over 20 mins it would do the same thing its doing now.

My thinkings are if I go outside and the battery is dead after sitting for two days, its the alt.

The best way to determine is to charge the batt fully and put it in the car. If by letting it sit it goes dead its the alt correct?

Thanks for the suggestions and keep them coming.

If the battery is good, it should take longer than 2 days (maybe two weeks), before you lose all the charge (clock and other miscellaneous small drains) without driving it.
If you lose all the charge within two days, it sounds like there is a short somewhere and the battery is getting drained by it.

If you drive it after charging it, and it loses charge while you are driving (though I have read in an earlier post that you can probably drive 70 miles or so on a good battery/bad alternator combo), then I would say that it is probably the alternator.

or the "...POOR wiring between the battery and alt, or ground."

I will check the wiring. Specifically, what wiring do I need to check and how to I determine if it is corrupt and needs to be replaced?

Thanks