Battery/alternator issue. 2005 RX-8
 

Hi everyone. I have been looking up the recent/past threads on battery/alternator issue and I have an issue myself with this.

My car ran fine before then after few months, say on a rainy day or when it was foggy outside, my car would try to shut off, all the lights on dashboard turns on, or turning the wheel left and right would cause this as well, but car starts back normally immediately afterwards. This happens on random moments while driving, radio on or radio off.

Recently this month the battery lights turns on when I start driving and after going beyond 2000 rpms the power steering fails, indicators on dashboard light up, and every electrical thing I have in car (sunroof, windows, radio, etc) has trouble functioning.

I had my battery checked, at AutoZone this week, and it read less than 14v and alternator wasn't charging it. I went home and struggled driving. It finally shut off when I reached my garage so I was lucky. I tried to turn it on and just heard click click click. I asked my neighbor if I could borrow his battery charger and so I charged it. Turned on my engine, cranked over, and after 30secs, car dies. I read alternator status and says 0. The battery lost power while car was on and I was ready the indicator from 13v dropping to 5v.

Now finally after this long wall of text (I apologize for this:) ), my question is, should I just go and get a new oem alternator or can the alternator I have now be rebuilt? And is it wise to get a new battery as well?

how weird mine just did this last night and im in the the same situation. let me know what your doing, i parked it since i am fortunate enough to have another car. i might just do a new oem. this blows, i drove mine fine all day until last night and it was over. i have an 04

A new alternator would be quite pricy; go with a rebuilt. Have your battery recharged and load tested, that will determine if it needs replacement.

I got my reman from http://alternatorpros.com/ for my 2004. Been in place for about a year. Performing flawlessly so far. Think the price is around $209.00 USD. Can get a little of this back if you return the old one, Alternator Pros provides stuff to assist with the return post removal.

im still getting more information on the alternator rebuild because my friend knows of a local alternator specialist shop and just going on from there. you're in illinois right?


that's what im going to do. at autozone i received a quote of 149.99 so i was quite surprised but ill see whats going on from the local.

how did you're old alternator become defected? did you just send your oem one to them?


(i appreciate everyone's help on this :) )

Consider going used. Alternators are easy enough to change where, if it were me, I'd take my chances with a used one. I found some $100 shipped by using google and the shopping tab.

You don't really need a brand new alternator. A re-manufactured is as good as a new one.

I finally got my rebuilt alternator installed and working, same day after the specialist shop rebuilt mine. It was a shot alternator. Working properly like new again. I wonder for how long... :P

paid only $105 :)

hey sorry, yeah im iliinois

Alternator
 

Updating this post. Alternator from Alternator Pros started exhibiting a lot of bearing noise a little more than 1 year after install (about 5K miles). Was still under 2yr warranty so contacted Alternator Pros for repair. They provided prepaid parcel post to ship it back, rebuilt it, and paid to return ship it to me. No money out of my pocket. All together about a two week process. Re-rebuilt alternator back in car and working well again. My investment was the time to remove, package, ship, receive, and reinstall.

Needless to say, running stock alternators on motors that regularly see high RPMs off the main drive pulley like a rotary can generate is going to be a source of potential failure. Folks at Alternator Pros stood behind their product with me, no questions asked. That gets a :icon_tup: from me. :ylsuper:

I had this same issue. The battery light came on last week in the morning. Car was running fine all day and started several times, but the light persisted. Later that night while I was driving all the warning lights came on and my power steering died.

I would have tried one of the rebuilt options, but I was out of town and needed the car fixed quickly, so I had to take it to a local shop. They said there was a dead cell in my battery that eventually wore out my alternator.

New battery, alternator and installation came to $580. Problem is totally resolved and the new alternator gave my underhood a little extra shine.

so from reading all of this, i take it that a bad alternator has potential to create a lot of electrical problems and create problems with power steering (like i am having.) so, replacing the alternator will resolve that problem?

alternator
 

My alternator sign came on, but it doesnt seem to want to lose power or anything, is it possible that its just a sensor that went bad? Idk 2006 rx8
I was trying to see if i hear anything, i did but very faint. Can anyone gimme some pointers

Have the battery load tested and check the output of the charging system; should be 14.4 volts @ idle.

Instruments skitzing out
 

hey i have a similar problem with my 2004 rx8. one night i was driving around with my mates (subarau wrx, subaru brz, commodore and a skyline) on my way home my battery light came on, i wasnt too concerned at first, i got home turned my car off and went to bed, the next day i was driving around and pulled over to text someone, when i looked up from my phone my abs brake lights were on and my power steering had faded slightly, i then drove around the corner, turned the car off and tried turning it over again but it wouldnt budge. i had racq come out and look at it, at first i was thinking dodgy connections from the battery, the mechanic that came out tested my alt and he said that it either needed to be reconditioned or replaced. so, i took it out which is easy as piss (just search it up online if you are retarded) then took it to my mechanic, he said he can recondition it with genuine parts.

he said dont ever go anywhere near cheap asian alternators, they wear quickly and can cause even more problems.

p.s
if anyone knows what my problem (if its not my alternator) please help

It sounds like your alternator, it needs to be tested and then you will know for sure. And yes a new oEm alternator would be your best option.

I had a similar issue with my '04, replaced the alternator and problem was solved. It also fixed a high pitched noise, almost like a table saw, that would happen when I start from cold and stop after about1 minute. Now the noise is back. Could it be that new alternator is going out already??