banzairx

Was wondering if anyone has had any luck getting the local auto parts store to test an alternator properly? I tried to get mine tested at Advance over the weekend and the results were mixed at best. First problem was the testing machine said to use an 04-08 connector which doesn't fit. We found a connector that fit eventually. When the test ran it did a "charge light circuit" test as the first thing and it would fail and stop the test. These cars don't have a charge light circuit so not sure what it was testing and if it was even a valid fail.

The back story on this is I'm using an 09 RX-8 as a donor for a Lotus 7 replica build running a megasquirt for engine control which also controls the alternator. There was a setting that was incorrect and the charge voltage went to 18v+ smoking my expensive lithium battery and frying a bunch of components in the ecu. The ECU manufacturer recommended getting the alternator checked before running the car again. If it was damaged it could repeat the same carnage again.

banzairx

I ended up going to oreilly's and their machine was able to test it properly.