Well... There goes my alternator

[Mark K 2]

I volunteer to go out and pick up injured, sick, and immature birds for a bird rescue group. I went to a small town south of Eau Claire, WI, but the crow was too injured and needed to be put down. On the way home at 1700 while on I-94 in Eau Claire, my truck radio started turning on and off by itself. Then, my tach died and the ABS light came on. I knew what that meant... the alternator was dead. The battery gauge was all the way down to "L".



I got off the freeway and as I was pulling into a convenience store/gas station, the engine died and I coasted into a parking spot. I was 45 miles from home. I called an AA buddy and asked him to stop at the parts store in my hometown and pick up an alternator and bring it to me. An hour later, he rolled in.... with the wrong alternator. I Googled Autozone and O'Reilly stores in the area and found there was an O'Reilly's two miles away. Off we go to get the right alternator. Got it installed, but we couldn't get to the tensioner to take tension off the belt so we could slip it over the pulley. I called another AA buddy who's a mechanic.



He came from my hometown and he had the belt on in ten minutes. We all missed the Thursday AA meeting and I missed the debate, but at least I made it home (at 2130).

 

[EddieS'04]

You must have used all of the battery reserve. Or the battery is also bad. Wasnt geting full charge.

I think my battery has 65min reserve. That will run the engine only for aproxamatly that amout of time.

The truth is on cars this has happened to me. The reserve never met the battery minutes...



Glad you have buddies that got you home. Thats the best......:haveabeer:

 

[Ed Fenwick]

sorry about the alternator Mark but you can see the debates on U tube.

 

[Mark K 2]

The battery is fine. I used the reserve quickly because I had the AC on. I saw the debate highlights and they satisfied my political mind.

 

[Dean Hedin]

Just out of curiosity... How many miles on your Sport Trac? and have you replaced the alternator before?



I am on my second alternator and the first replacement happened about 80k miles.

 

[Gavin Allan]

My Gen I needed a new alternator AND a battery at 45,000. Thank goodness they are easy to replace.

 

[Mark K 2]

Just out of curiosity... How many miles on your Sport Trac? and have you replaced the alternator before?

145,000 miles. Never replaced the alternator before. I've only had to replace the 4x4 control module. Come to think of it, I'm on the original fuel pump, too.

 

[Igor Smetaniuk]

:grin:My original alternator (2001) finally crapped out in 2012 with 328,000 miles. So what do I win?