Faulty Alternator?
 

Hi all quick question,

I'm 99% sure my alternator gave out, but then I remembered, isnt there a light that should come on to warn you of that? (I have a DC2 teg)

I was driving home when my stereo died, lights got dim, car starting hesistating and barely made it home. Then the car was totally dead, no sound at all when trying to start. I boosted it from another car and it ran for 5 mins, then same thing happened. Anything else it could be?

most likely alternator, to be sure you can do an avr test to see what the system is charging at.

take it to part source, ask for free test

Yeah if i cant fix it tonight, I'm taking it to a mechanic tomorrow. (hope I can get there on battery power alone :eek:)

I better include the whole story cause its a bit weird, and it seems this is a pretty big coincidence.

On Friday I took a turn kinda fast and then punched it in second gear. Boom right after that I get what appears to be a triple failure. Speedometer shows 0km/h, check engine light comes on, and coolant temps are a little lower than usual.

Then on Saturday this happens. It might just be a coincidence but i dont know. Can you really break all that stuff from taking a turn and punching the throttle?

P.S. i read the codes - as expected speedometer error, O2 sensor heating element, and misfire (i think that one was from limping home under battery power)

Sounds just like the symptoms i experienced driving the old Mazda when its alternator died. Speedo and cluster went nuts, lights dimmed and then car struggled to continue. I would HIGHLY recommend buying a new battery if you're planning on driving it anywhere, as your electrics are going straight off the battery and its not getting a charge. The new battery won't last you long though, so pick where you go carefully. Maybe 25km lol.

Best of luck on getting it taken care of!

I have a battery charger from Crappy tire, I'm just gonna charge it full with that before I leave. I'm hoping for 50km out of it :manual:

I believe you need an new alternator, sir.

Negatory on that, I thought so as well, but the alt is just fine.

I ended up grabbing a shiny reman unit and had it installed. Started up the car and tested to make sure it was charging - no dice! Exactly the same as before. Turns out I had what we believe is an electrical short somewhere. When I took that left hand corner it did indeed knock out several systems.

Now everything is back to normal, speedometer works, and engine temps are bang on. My mechanic is still scratching his head...

^Guess you won't drive like a crazy man anymore eh? lol ;)

hehe, well i wouldnt exactly call it crazy. With the high price of gas and cops waiting to pounce on every corner, I think that's the first time I've been over 4000rpm in months.

I was just trying to make a yellow light, I figured while I'm at it, I may as well do it with some flair and really give 'er..

Lol sucks about the short but glad you got it figured out man.

alternator fuse is the same fuse as vss.
my theory is somehow you shorted out the wires on your post cat o2 sensor and that blew the alternator fuse in turn also blowing the speedo fuse. that would throw a cel on

yup, I wouldnt be suprised if something very similar to this happened. My mechanic basically poked and prodded, checking every fuse and somehow got everything going. He mentioned a backplate touching somewhere might be the issue, but I dont think hes 100% sure of his "fix", he told me to come back if the speedo dies again.