Ellie

Does anyone have any rough idea how long my car is likely to run for with a buggered altenator??

Last time it packed in it was gradual and i got away with it for a couple of days as the altenator was partly charging.
I cant quite remember though how far i drove once the altenator had stopped completely, but it was winter and dark so had to have lights and heater on.
Today it appears to have packed up overnight. Ive had an electric battery charger on it and the voltmeter on the dash is reading just above the lower 'normal range' limit.
Will i get away with driving 20miles or so???
Hope this isnt a 'how long is a piece of string' question.

Also, my altenator belt has been screeching for a month or so due to oil leaking onto it. It usually shuts up after a minute or so, but this morning it didnt screech at all. Is it possible that its got so oiled up that its just not driving the altenator at all??
(cylinder head nuts were loose after having a new rocker gasket 6months ago and oil has pissed all into the altenator again so chances are its buggered)

thanks
Ellie

fuzzy

with no alternator it will die quickly, especially if you use it at night with lights on etc. i wouldnt trust it to do 20 miles.

Ginge !

starting the car will kill most of the battery life aswell as the lights,,, if you was to pushstart the car and have a fully charged battery then you would get say 30 mins local driving and prob a hour of motorway driving

ask Ian500 whos got the cossie powered focus how long a fucked alternator drives,,,,, as he drove back from the nurburgring,,, to the ferry swopping the battery twice and then it sort of started charging again at higher speeds,,,,, got him from dover to liverpool too aswel !!!!

Evey

I managed 45 miles, but Unsure when the item failed, but I'm fairly confident it failed from the beggining of the journey

My lights and wipers were on aswel for most of the journey

Ellie

Hmmmmmm!!
Well itd be tomorrow morning, no lights, no heater etc. Should be ok then.
Ive started it 3 times today and its not moved the voltmeter, so maybe its not going to use much to run.
I need to get it to the place that did the rocker gasket which is about 20miles away, or into town which is only 10miles.
Ill leave really early to avoid waiting in traffic etc.
But the battery isnt fully charged and has been drained once before too (when the last one packed in).
Im in the RAC so i think ill give it a go. I was just going to go to work then figure out how i can get it fixed but it might be wise to only drive it when its going direct to a garage.

thanks

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

Cheeky Chops your asking for it to conk out on you and you will probably find thats somewhere you don't want to be stopped at .

didn't you have aggro with the alty at crane bank ??

i know off 2 places that recon altys,1 in ellesmere port and the other in penneyford. both cheep as chips with a no muckin about warrenty if it fooks up.

have you still got a fan belt or does the powersteering belt do the alty too ??

cheeRS Karl

fuzzy

would also depend on how good your battery is to start with?

Ellie

probably crap!

Karl-who u calling cheeky!!!!!
And yes im tempting fate as always!!!!
Nah, the alty was done at Bakers down Sealand Rd, they pissballed around ordering the wrong one and not knowing how to even do it (the rear axel has to be dropped).
Crane Bank couldnt manage to fit the correct fuel tank to a 1.6 zetec escort causing me to have to have a new sender unit aswell.
It was Lindops who did the rocker gasket though, and last week my fella noticed it leaking again and the cylinder head nuts were so loose you could turn them with ya hand.
Yeah, i have a fan belt. Its made its presence very clear to me and probably the entire street!
Power steering is electric so i dont think there is a belt, it has an ecu unit, relay and a driver unit, no belt. (does that make sense)?

Wheres the place in ellesmere port?? Will they re-con mine or sell me a different one??

thanks

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

before you start changing stuff have a look at the wires on the connector going into the alty ,so give them a wiggle, i have known cars to have wonky wires and a bad connection or broken wire causes a flat battery. i once conked out on the m53 in a escort and it had no tax or mot and probably no insurance too and left it and walked to the phone box by b+q in ellesmere port,lucky i got rescued and not had the car towed. i had a long walk and wait

heres the bloke i use for reconning starters and altys,its best call him to make sure he's still at it.
ask for brian

Port Auto Electrics

201 Stanney La
L65 9AN South Wirral (MERSEYSIDE)
Auto Electrical Centres
Phone: 01513561110

Ellie

I cant even get to the wiring, its at the bottom of the engine.
LMAO at the escort fiasco!!

Cheers for the number.

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

can you or someone who doesn't mind getting on the floor try lying down with the engine off and twiddling the wires to the alternator and then see if the battery light goes off with the engine running ??

fwiw i have had many problems with batterys like the lotus that had a terminal come off when i was racing around chester, if you kept the revs up it would run,if you didn't it would conk out, that was another long wait for a jump

yappstar

PS is electric on MR2's mate. Assuming thats what she means.

Psycho Warren

iTrader: (5)

Ive got 2 hours out of a fully charged battery at steady 70 before engine died. that was with stereo on but no lights/wipers.

of course i suspect you wouldnt get more than half an hour out of it before the batterys too flat to start the engine (but still capable of keeping it running).

CossieRich

iTrader: (1)

I got from le mans to Croydon on 4 battery changes, maybe 5 as my alternator packed up. Kept changing battery's with my mate when mine died. Bad idea of course if in a turbo'd car if fuel injected as voltage at the pump begins to drop off and if you are on it, it can cause serious damage. Got to 5/6 volts before mine started mis-firing and running very rough.

tabetha

If no lights,stereo etc or HRW, as this really drinks the leccy then could get 5-7 hours on a good size fully charged battery no probs at all.
tabetha

timrud

Totally depends on what car!

I managed 2 weeks, only charging it once after a week. Though this was a
on an M-reg 106 diesel. It has no ECU, and the injectors are mechanical. Even did a bit of night driving, but tried to keep it limited. Kept the radio and the fans off. Lights were dimmer than normal.

Ellie

Well, drove to work and back, 10miles each way, and its hardly used any battery power.
Had the battery on charge since 6pm and im taking it back to the place that did the gasket so they can put it right.

TurboShed

OMG this must = FAIL before too long

Good luck miss, I hope it works out ok