Toggenburg
Full Member
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2021
- Messages
- 24
2011 AV, last Friday, had to replace battery and alternator. Went to Home Depot at lunch hour, came back and engine would barely spin, but no start.
Guy there used porta jumper, car starts instantly. He leaves, and I pull out heading back to work (5 minutes away by expressway).
I get in traffic and notice the voltmeter is discharging, like 1/8" to the left of center.... not a normal sight.
Last mile or so, seemed that trans was having trouble shifting and I thought everything was going to shut down on me.
Made it to work, parked so the front end was out, because I might need battery recharging or maybe a tow...
Coworkers put cables on vehicle, battery would not budge, no start at all, voltmeter showed 9 or 10 vdc and would not charge.
Wife came and I bought an utoparts store rebuilt alternator and new AGM battery.
Swapped out and drove home no issue.
However; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, each time, driving home (45 minutes ~ 31 miles) at nearly the same time and place, the voltmeter gradually drops to the same spot as before.
Last night, Wednesday, on way home, traded alternator in for another at a different branch of same autoparts store.
Store tested and said, bad diode.
New one I then put in, had a noisy bearing and parts store had no other spare alternator.
Took tools with me to work today.
Lunchtime, back to original store where I purchased the items on previous Friday.
They tested and said electrically alternator was good, but bearing was bad.
Got yet another alternator from their shelf, it tested good and ran silent. Installed that one.
Ran fine back to work.
On way home though, at roughly 30 minutes from work, the voltmeter did the same thing!
I pulled onto a side street, turned off engine and then immediately restarted and voltmeter shoots up to 14.6 VDC.
Is there some electrical pathway in our AV's that the ECM or some other circuit can control the power to the alternator?
Forgot to mention, when the voltmeter shows discharge, I never get a red battery light to come on. I placed DMV on battery and it's 12.6 volts. Then immediately after restart, battery leads are showing 14.6 v, and on one of the previous alternators this week, I measured 14.9v spike.
What is going wrong and what do I need to do next (co workers say, it's just bad rebuilt ones and to go get my $ back and buy a brand new alternator....I don't think that the alternators themselves are the problem.
Is there some alternator shutdown relay on our cars?
Thoughts?
Guy there used porta jumper, car starts instantly. He leaves, and I pull out heading back to work (5 minutes away by expressway).
I get in traffic and notice the voltmeter is discharging, like 1/8" to the left of center.... not a normal sight.
Last mile or so, seemed that trans was having trouble shifting and I thought everything was going to shut down on me.
Made it to work, parked so the front end was out, because I might need battery recharging or maybe a tow...
Coworkers put cables on vehicle, battery would not budge, no start at all, voltmeter showed 9 or 10 vdc and would not charge.
Wife came and I bought an utoparts store rebuilt alternator and new AGM battery.
Swapped out and drove home no issue.
However; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, each time, driving home (45 minutes ~ 31 miles) at nearly the same time and place, the voltmeter gradually drops to the same spot as before.
Last night, Wednesday, on way home, traded alternator in for another at a different branch of same autoparts store.
Store tested and said, bad diode.
New one I then put in, had a noisy bearing and parts store had no other spare alternator.
Took tools with me to work today.
Lunchtime, back to original store where I purchased the items on previous Friday.
They tested and said electrically alternator was good, but bearing was bad.
Got yet another alternator from their shelf, it tested good and ran silent. Installed that one.
Ran fine back to work.
On way home though, at roughly 30 minutes from work, the voltmeter did the same thing!
I pulled onto a side street, turned off engine and then immediately restarted and voltmeter shoots up to 14.6 VDC.
Is there some electrical pathway in our AV's that the ECM or some other circuit can control the power to the alternator?
Forgot to mention, when the voltmeter shows discharge, I never get a red battery light to come on. I placed DMV on battery and it's 12.6 volts. Then immediately after restart, battery leads are showing 14.6 v, and on one of the previous alternators this week, I measured 14.9v spike.
What is going wrong and what do I need to do next (co workers say, it's just bad rebuilt ones and to go get my $ back and buy a brand new alternator....I don't think that the alternators themselves are the problem.
Is there some alternator shutdown relay on our cars?
Thoughts?
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