Car is acting like it has a bad alt. but i just replaced it.

dj inferno · Post by **dj inferno** » January 31st, 2005, 12:31 pm

ok so heres the deal... on fri i was driving, my dash lights dimmed, and my heat got "slower" headlights dimmed, and my RPM gadge stoped working when i hit the breaks or tuned the blinkers on. and my radio cut off. so i pulled in a parking lot and turned my car off... tryed to start it.... NOTHING... click click click. went into wal-mart, bought my school suplyes and went back to my car. tryed to start it and it started... it didn't like it, but it adventualy turned over. brought it home and i finaly got a new alt. for it. put that in, charged the battery, and started it up, it lasted about a mile, and did the same thing it was doing before. so i wen thome slaped a new battery in it, and tryed that.... it lasted for about 10 miles... and did the same thing, brought it up to CSK and tested it in and out of the car... in the car it failed, out of the car it passed at 14.8 (in car = 12.7) brought it to napa and asked what they thought, they tested it and passed it, so i bought electrical cleaner, and cleaned most the connections. put it back together, charged the battery back up, and tryed it again. it started and ran fine. and it lasted about 10 miles again but on the way to school today the heat was lower then normal, and when i hit the breaks the radio cut out same as when i turned the blinker on. why does it keep doin this!!!! its like the alt. dont work but it does.

ANY HELP WOULD BE LOVELY!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!
thanks

dj inferno · Post by **dj inferno** » January 31st, 2005, 12:35 pm

btw its a 92 SOHC 1.6L

disarm · Post by **disarm** » January 31st, 2005, 12:42 pm

i had the same trouble before, my ground on the battery was'nt secured well enough

Post by **Custommx3** » January 31st, 2005, 1:17 pm

I will second the above statement, double check your cables.

dj inferno · Post by **dj inferno** » January 31st, 2005, 2:14 pm

u mean check the connection of the ground comin off the battery? i'll do it when i get home (assumin i make it)

Grants · Post by **Grants** » January 31st, 2005, 3:14 pm

All the connections from the battery to the firewall, engine block, wherever you can. It would be best to ctually undo them, clean with a wire brush or something and reinstall. Also check the cables themselves to ok, especially at any crimp lugs, etc.

mamoo · Post by **mamoo** » January 31st, 2005, 4:52 pm

Sounds exactly like a problem I was having recently. The problem turned out to be a poorly-fitting alternator belt. I replaced it, and it works fine now.

Same deal: losing electrical power suddenly for no reason, battery draining.

When the alternator belt slips, it can't generate enough power to run all the accessories and charge the battery at the same time.

Check the tension of the alternator belt; if it's loose, you might just have your culprit. I think it's quite likely, since you just had your alternator replaced. Maybe they neglected to put the belt back on properly.

dj inferno · Post by **dj inferno** » February 1st, 2005, 8:50 am

drove up to my work yesterday to replace my belt, got there and it had snaped on the way up there... good thing i ended at a auto parts store huh... ne ways, i got the belt and instaled it in the parking lot (pain in the a--) but i got it done, and it works fine now... knuckles kinda hurt tho.

Grants · Post by **Grants** » February 1st, 2005, 4:18 pm

But you replaced the alternator before that? It should have been obvious then that the belt was worn or badly fitted?

Yoda · Post by **Yoda** » February 2nd, 2005, 7:08 am

I've had a brand new belt shread themselves a few times. Once it was due to receiving a low speed industrial belt instead of a automotive belt. Every Goodyear belt I've have no matter how tight would still slip and wouldn't spin the alternator fast enough to keep the battery charged eventually burning out the belt. A couple of the Mazda's I've owned or serviced there was a little bit of a bow in the alternator bracket which caused a slight misalignment of the alternator pulley which caused the belt to wear prematurely. I've had belts snap due to FOD. A mechanic forgot a nut in the engine compartment which just happened to fall between the belt and pulley. It looked like it it went around the crank pulley and got wedged in the Alt. pulley cutting the belt and where we found it. I have also seen rocks get kicked up into the accessory belts.

dj inferno · Post by **dj inferno** » February 2nd, 2005, 8:45 am

yah...forfor my alt. went out i had notice alot of snow stuck up under the alt. it had good year belts on it befor... and the belt didn't look THAT bad... i would of replaced it when i got the new alt. but i didn't wanna take the power stearing/AC belt off cuz it looked like a pain in the a--. so i just said skip it... turnes out i shoulda just did it at home, instead of needin to do it at my work parkin lot lol.

mamoo · Post by **mamoo** » February 3rd, 2005, 8:27 pm

dj inferno wrote:drove up to my work yesterday to replace my belt, got there and it had snaped on the way up there... good thing i ended at a auto parts store huh... ne ways, i got the belt and instaled it in the parking lot (pain in the a--) but i got it done, and it works fine now... knuckles kinda hurt tho.

LOL I still have scabs on my knuckles from replacing my alternator belt!

Glad it's working okay now.