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Bad alterantor?

summitlt

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Maine
Driving around today, I noticed my voltmeter down around 12 volts, it usually up around 14. Its no to the red yet, but Im getting worried.

Should I be worried yet? Waht do new oens cost?
 
summitlt said:
Driving around today, I noticed my voltmeter down around 12 volts, it usually up around 14. Its no to the red yet, but Im getting worried.

Should I be worried yet? Waht do new oens cost?
Most of the time they just quit, time to check your belt, they do need to be replaced if they are old an loose.
 
BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE!

Back-check the dashpanel voltmeter using a quality diagnostic voltmeter - those dashboard things are notoriously inaccurate, and the connection may be getting shonky. Mine wanders between two volts low and two volts high (I haven't bothered to figure that one out - I get a rock solid 15VDC, as checked each month, so I'm not worried about it.) I'll address that little problem when I finally redesign the gage cluster, since I'll be going to mostly aircraft gages anyhow (what do you expect from a former pilot?)

If the voltage check fails, check belt tension, and make sure your power steering pump isn't on the fritz. A failing power steering pump will often cause belt glazing and/or slippage, which will adversely effect alternator output.

If that's all good, get a new alternator. There was a lot of issues with it when I posted (all political, don't worry,) but I got my builder to post in Classifieds. You can call him if you don't like Mean Green's pricing...

5-90
 
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