Broke down abroad - alternator?

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Eric in Wyoming

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Hi everybody,

We're currently camping, albeit sort of against our will. The Expedition was doing fine this whole trip until today when we stopped at a visitor center - tried to start it, dead battery. Got a jump from a kind RVer, which lasted all of about 2 miles counting how far we coasted after the engine went dead. Before that, all the gauges/blinkers/windows went dead, and something in the dash started beeping. Got a jump from Park Rangers, and this time I pulled the hot wire off the battery to check the alternator - engine stayed running, so I assumed the alternator was okay at that point.

Well, we made it another mile or so, far enough to where we could coast downhill into the campground, and this time I saw the voltmeter drop slowly from normal range. Once it bottomed out, the gauges/blinkers/window quit again and the engine eventually died again. Rangers had followed us to make sure we were okay, they jumped us off twice more with the same results. The camp host(God love him!) brought out a multimeter to check the battery when it was running, and the best reading he got was about 12.5V. I know a good charging system shows 13.5-14.5V or so. This time, I pulled the battery positive wire and the engine died.

I'm assuming now that I need an alternator. Before I drop a stack of cabbage on one, is there anything else I can check? I've shuffled relays around, checked fuses, everything looks to be good to go. Any ideas?
 
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zfifty

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Make sure all connections are clean and your belt is tight. Most major parts stores have a way to test your alternator and charging system. This is a good video for checking your alternator.

View media item 7542
Voltage regulator is within alternator. You can replace it cheaper than entire alternator. When it fails the entire alternator is usually replaced.

View media item 7543
If the bearing is bad and making noise you need to replace entire alternator. A good time to replace belt also.

View media item 7544
 
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JamaicaJoe

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Go under the hood and pull the fuses for the rear wiper motor. They have a tendency to fail and drain battery with ignition off.

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Hamfisted

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Are there any autoparts stores you can get to where you are ? If the alternator is otherwise alright you can probably get away with just changing out the voltage regulator on the backside for about $50. It's external and just has 4 screws holding it on. Otherwise I'd say, yeah, go for the new alternator.


Standard Motor Products VR455 ....
VR-455_Front__ra_p.jpg
 
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Eric in Wyoming

Eric in Wyoming

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I've thought that too - any voltage regulator I've had go out caused an overcharge condition, though. But then that was on a whole different machine, too. If the alternator checks out okay, I'm more than likely still gonna put a new voltage regulator on it.
 
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Eric in Wyoming

Eric in Wyoming

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Well, yall? Sometimes it actually is the alternator - tested mine today and not only did the machine say "Fail"... it said "FAIL" "FAIL" "FAIL". All three columns. New alternator is in and we're back up and going!
 

Alwaysthinkin

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Well, yall? Sometimes it actually is the alternator - tested mine today and not only did the machine say "Fail"... it said "FAIL" "FAIL" "FAIL". All three columns. New alternator is in and we're back up and going!

Glad to hear you're back up and going! Hope the rest of your trip is all about fun and thanks for the update.
 

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