Alternator question
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 12,578
Likes: 237
From: Bartlett Illinois
Alternator question
I drove my car tonight and have a question. Before I swapped the interior and engine harness, the main wire going to the alternator broke off. I did not know this until the car died in a parking lot after about 15mile of draining the battery. I have recharged the battery but it could be bad as well. my question is this, if the Alternator was running but was not connected to that heavy main wire, could I have damaged the alternator? I am thinking I did but wanted to check here first. My battery seems to be holding a charge at 12volts.
The other thing is the battery light came on when I was driving it.. voltage read at 14.0 volts then the car would not idle and it died. I started it back up and it was fine.. Any thoughts?
The other thing is the battery light came on when I was driving it.. voltage read at 14.0 volts then the car would not idle and it died. I started it back up and it was fine.. Any thoughts?
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
Re: Alternator question (-=Jeff=-)
Your alternator cannot be harmed by operating it with the output terminal unconnected. Now if the large red wire separated and fell down and touched ground while still connected to the alternator, then the alternator would get very hot and if run this way for a couple hours, it would probably fail.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 12,578
Likes: 237
From: Bartlett Illinois
Re: Alternator question (jfb)
Not sur eif it did or not. I do know that the other day when I started the car.. the Voltage on the digital gauge was at 15volts. I thought that was a bit high. I gues my battery could be bad and the Alt is not keep up to it, since I did drain it pretty bad. I have my receipt for the battery still and I will exchange it for a new one.
Jeff
Jeff
