Broke down abroad - alternator?

[Eric in Wyoming]

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?

 

[Alwaysthinkin]

Did a search and voltage regulator came up as a possible problem. Sorry, I'm not able to provide more help.

 

[Eric in Wyoming]

Hey, that could save me from eating an alternator, thanks!

 

[zfifty]

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.

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

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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

 

[Eric in Wyoming]

Awesome, thanks!

 

[JamaicaJoe]

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.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[Hamfisted]

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 ....

 

[Eric in Wyoming]

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.

 

[Eric in Wyoming]

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]

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.

 

[zfifty]

Break camp, on the road again. Good Luck!

 

[Gribble]

We had our alternator go out on our last road trip from SD to TN on the way back near Brookings, SD. I had it changed out in less than an hour. It really did look like I replaced the original alternator from 2000 and 232,000 miles later!

 

[Grizguy]

That is one issue I have had on my f350 with the 6.0 diesels .. Alternators ALWAYS have low voltage. Have replaced them a bunch of times. A guy showed me on time how to pull the belt and trap the belt tightener, have not been able to figure it out sense..

 

[knewblewkorvett]

I think it's common on these Expeditions. I change an Expedition alternator quickly though it can be a tad hard if doing by yourself as the tensioner is pretty stout. I've gone through so many alternators that I keep a spare on hand. It's not pretty when the regulator goes out as when it happened to me, the voltage pegged out at about 17.6 volts. Every gauge, light, etc. goes crazy. It literally boiled the battery and fried my subwoofer amplifier so they had to be replaced too.
Glad you found the problem and are back in action.

 

[Yupster Dog]

I think it's common on these Expeditions. I change an Expedition alternator quickly though

About 1 hour into a 3 hour drive I saw my battery gauge was a little below half. 15 minutes later it was down more and obviously running off the battery. Made it another 35 minutes to a AutoZone.
Changed the alternator with the few crappy tools they had.