Hey all,
I recently took got my battery changed because it is heading into its 6th winter (no problems or anything yet), and I didn't want to get stuck somewhere. The installer guy at sears said that my alternator was bad and needed replacing. I took it to autozone for an alternator check, and they said I had a bad diode, but it was still driving current into the battery. I'm wondering if I actually need to replace the alternator. It seems unlikely that it would have broken only a day or two before I happened to take it in for replacement, is there any chance the alternator could work with a bad diode? I'm not sure how the circuit works, is it a full bridge rectifier and maybe I only lost half of it? If so, I would imagine I am ok. I'm guessing I'm probably screwed, but since alternator replacement is so damn expensive, and it sounds like I can't do it myself (I don't have a lift) I thought I'd ask.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
'99 silver frost svt
