My Alternator Broke

DA-LION-619

DA-LION-619

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I arrive at campus today around 9am, I leave around 6:30pm. Start the car and I notice my HUD display didn't come on so I thought maybe I kicked the cable out from the OBD port. Plug it back and my HUD starts beeping, I then notice my battery light is on so something is up. I didn't leave the park lights on or anything and normally when I start my car the HUD displays my battery voltage at 14v.

I didn't worry much since I'm driving if the battery is drained it would charge. Home is about 15km away, as I'm getting closer to my house I notice the backlight for my speedometer is getting dimmer. So I get home switch off, try to start again and my car won't start. Phone my mechanic and he says it's the alternator.

TL;DR
What could have caused my alternator to break and how would have my battery completely drained out? Also is it normal for a car to have a higher rev while idle if the alternator has gone wonky?
 
Last edited:
DA-LION-619 said:
I arrive at campus today around 9am, I leave around 6:30pm. Start the car and I notice my HUD display didn't come on so I thought maybe I kicked the cable out from the OBD port. Plug it back and my HUD starts beeping, I then notice my battery light is on so something is up. I didn't leave the park lights on or anything and normally when I start my car the HUD displays my battery voltage at 14v.

I didn't worry much since I'm driving if the battery is drained it would charge. Home is about 15km away, as I'm getting closer to my house I notice the backlight for my speedometer is getting dimmer. So I get home switch off, try to start again and my car won't start. Phone my mechanic and he says it's the alternator.

TL;DR
What could have caused my alternator to break and how would have my battery completely drained out? Also is it normal for a car to have a higher rev while idle if the alternator has gone wonky?
Click to expand...
could be voltage regular, brushes, diode pack (rectifier ).
brushes wear out
diode pack and regulator electronic
normally not an expensive fix
exept if it a merc with watter cooled altinator
 
Yip most probably the brushes or a loose connection.
You car was running on the battery on the way home.
 
Could also be something as simple as an earth wire that has come loose. What car is this?
 
DA-LION-619 said:
What could have caused my alternator to break and how would have my battery completely drained out?
Click to expand...

Alternators wear out.

A (petrol) car uses electricity to fire its spark plugs, which fire up to a few 1000 times a minute. That alone will drain the battery in no time.
 
Mine also went a few weeks ago. My mechanic sent the alternator to the auto electrician they outsource to and he fixed it. R2700 about including the labor.
 
Hopefully the alternator is still fine and that the fusible link has given up the ghost instead.

But as others have said they do wear out over time. Hope you get it sorted soon
 
Ockie said:
Mine also went a few weeks ago. My mechanic sent the alternator to the auto electrician they outsource to and he fixed it. R2700 about including the labor.
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Yoh that seems excessive. I was told around R300 if it's nothing major.
 
genetic said:
A (petrol) car uses electricity to fire its spark plugs, which fire up to a few 1000 times a minute. That alone will drain the battery in no time.
Click to expand...

Rubbish, you can drive a few hundred kilometres on a battery if you switch off all the things that drain it and just have the battery powering the spark and EMS.
 
DA-LION-619 said:
Anyway just started the car now. Voltage is at 11.6V
Click to expand...

If you're just going from home too varsity you can probably get by with just charging the battery at night, avoid using the radio and aircon, keep your speed up to keep air flowing through the radiator which will prevent the electric fan cycling in.

R300 sounds a quite low - that's not even an hour's labour these days. If you can remove it and take it in to an auto-electrician you can obviously save some money, as long as you're 100% sure it's the alternator. In fact if you're able to remove it, you're probably able to replace the brushes and voltage regulator yourself too. They often come as a unit, and it's just a couple of screws to remove.
 
If you want a good auto-electrician i know a guy that is good and honest as the day is long .
Chatsworth .
 
Colin62 said:
Rubbish, you can drive a few hundred kilometres on a battery if you switch off all the things that drain it and just have the battery powering the spark and EMS.
Click to expand...

Have you seen the size of a Chevy Spark's battery? Heh... Spark.

Ignition, engine management, instrument cluster... Tens of kilometres, maybe. Hundreds? Nah. Plus the battery will probably be ruined too if you drive it far enough to find out.
 
We once drove from Randburg to Soshanguve on battery alone in a Ford focus with a faulty alternator, I think that's just below 100km distance.
 
Yeah, so one thing you got to hate about the Spark is finding spares. The alternator can't be fixed, so the mechanic sourced a 2nd hand one which took up the whole of yesterday to find so hopefully by today the car will be sorted.
 
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