[s-cars] alternator

[Theodore Chen]

i took out the battery, charged it, and put it back in the car.  the
car fired right up and i drove it from the street into the garage.
the alternator light was no longer on.

don't know at this point whether it's the alternator or voltage regulator.
i'm debating whether i should just replace the alternator and voltage
regulator with an alternator/voltage regulator from www.ultranator.com
(which several listers recommended).  if i do so, i figure that will
eliminate the alternator as a potential source of problems for a long time.

this car has 122k miles on it.  what do you think?

-teddy

--- LL - NY <larrycleung at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'd agree with your assesment. Probably died before the light, although,
> believe it or not, they're usually pretty sensitive to voltage drops, they're
> pretty elegant in design.
> 
> LL - NY
> 
> 
> On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 11:06:22 -0800 (PST), Theodore Chen
> <tedebearp at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > 
> > --- Kent McLean <kentmclean at mindspring.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > Theodore Chen wrote:
> > > > alternator in my '92 S4 died yesterday.  had to get the car towed.
> > > > i was driving across a long bridge.  the alternator warning light came
> > > > on.  i kept going, hoping to make it to the other side of the bridge
> before
> > > > the car stopped.  just as i got to the first exit on the other side,
> the
> > > > car died.
> > >
> > > You should have gotten a lot further than across the bridge.
> > > Did you have the lights and heater blower on? The radio?
> > > Wipers? If so, you should have shut all that stuff off. I've
> > > driven for up to a half hour on just a battery.  (Of course,
> > > I guess you could have been in stop and go traffic for a half
> > > hour trying to get over a bridge.)
> > 
> > the san mateo bridge, including the approaches, is nearly 10 miles long,
> > and it was during rush hour.
> > 
> > also, i had noticed earlier in the day that the windows seemed to be
> > moving rather slowly but didn't give any thought to it.  i had the radio
> > and HVAC going all day.  the indicator light didn't go on until i was
> > approaching the bridge and had passed the last exit before the bridge.
> > 
> > once the light went on, i shut down all the electrical stuff.
> > 
> > i think the alternator was failing before the light went on, but the
> > light didn't go on until the voltage was quite low.
> > 
> > -teddy
> > 
> > 
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