first off, i searched with no luck. everyone seems to have successful alternator replacements

so 2 days ago my battery light came on. eventually the abs light and powersteering went. tested it, bad alternator. so i replaced it with a duralast alternator the same night. (http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...ator/_/N-93xme)

it was a good install, everything seemed to work fine. charged the battery over night and battery light was off.

i drove to school and back and half way back the light came back on but went off after some more driving. seemed random to me. same thing happened today, im recharging the battery again.

my question is. do i just need a longer drive to fully charge the battery or do alternators have a break in period (pretty sure no). i just want to make sure everythings doin okay :/ any help is appreciated.

 

Did you test the battery?

 

i feel stupid saying no. but i have not yet. I only tested the alternator when i discovered it was bad. I am running over to the shop I work at tomorrow to check the battery's crank voltage as well as the alternator to make sure everything is running to spec.

I apologize for asking a question so hastily, I wasn't sure if this was a common problem. never replaced an alternator before.

I will get back to you when i get it checked. hopefully its a bad battery

 

Mazda had a recall on the starters and batteries. Both were supposed to be replaced some time back. I didn't look at the year of your car. None the less though the battery could be shot too.

 

yea im thinking/hoping its just the battery. Its an 05, but I replaced the starter with an 06 one about 2k miles ago. and the battery isn't a factory one. car has 76k on it right now. still kickin... kinda

thanks for the input

 

Make sure the belt tension is correct.

 

so what did you find out wig?

I had the same problem yesterday. first the battery came on along with the oil light. the oil light went away after a while, but the battery light remained on through the day. The card started right away when I left school--battery light still on--I went to the coffee shop to study for a few hours, and then left. the light was still on but the car started normally anyway.
Then I went to pick up my sister, I parked the car and waited for her for about 15 minutes with the stereo on, when I tried to start the car back again it barely started, I had to gas it.
after the car started, the battery light kept flickering and then all the warning light in the dashboard came on. DSC, ABS, and lost the power steering. I shut down the car for a few minutes and attempted to start it again. This time it didn't crank at all, although I could hear the starter click. needless to say, I had to jump start it but all the warning lights were still on.
I took the battery to autozone this morning to check it and they had to quick charge it for 1.5 hours or so since it was completely drained.
I took it back home and put it in the car, it started normally but the battery light is still illuminated in the dashboard.
the battery tested good, so I'm speculating it must be the alternator then in this case?

 

Have your charging system checked.

 

can they do that at autozone? I'll have to drive the car like this to autozone and hope it starts again to drive it back. last time I lost the power steering so it was a chore making tight turns.

 

Put an amp clamp around the charging cable between the alternator and the battery. Measure the DC current and report it back here.

 

You need an alternator.

BC.

 

I went to autozone but I could not get the alternator tested because the battery was low--12.03 volts.
I am going to swap the battery form another car and go back to autozone to get the alternator tested, I hope is just the battery that is bad.

 

I went to autozone but I could not get the alternator tested because the battery was low--12.03 volts.
I am going to swap the battery form another car and go back to autozone to get the alternator tested, I hope is just the battery that is bad.

 

A good battery 12V battery, should read at least 12.8 when fully charged. A brand new battery would show 13.x voltage..

If you are nearing 12.0 V or below 12.0V, then the battery is not charged, which doesn't necessary mean it's bad.

That is why I said to hook up an amp clamp to the power charging cable to measure the DC amperage.

If you have an external battery charger that you know works, disconnect the car battery, and connect the charger to it. Charge it over night or until the charger says it's full. Then take a voltage measurement. Now that you know it has been charged, if your voltage is still less than 12.8 or even worse still around 12.03, then you know the battery is dead because it cannot hold a charge.

Replace your battery.

Undervolting components in your car is really bad, especially sensitive electronics like your PCM requires the full 12V to work well. Other equipment that draws high power from 12V, will have no choice but to compensate with higher current, and you have more equipment running at higher current which generates more heat on all wires etc... just not good.

Don't take a chance with undervolt.

 

Thanks for your input footman. I swapped the battery from one of the other perfectly functioning vehicles--just to make sure it is not the battery before i spend another $180 on a new red top--but the check battery light came back on after a few seconds.
I drove to autozone to have the alternator tested--they also checked the battery while at it--it turns out the voltage regulator inside is not working properly.
I will replace the alternator tomorrow with one of autozone since they are only $160. I would go with the bhr alternator, but I need the car right away and I really don't want to spend $400 on a fix.

 

so the alternator was replaced a week ago, and the problem has been solved. no battery light anymore.

 

Even though that light looks like a battery, it's not a battery warning light. It's a charging system warning light. In the days before pictorials, that light tended to just say "Alt".

Ken

 

For the most part the autozone test works but it is never 100% accurate, maybe it just depends who is doing the test there. I have had them tell me it was my battery and my alt was working fine so I replaced the battery and later that day I am stuck with a broken alt. So be careful, if it is an intermittent problem the test may not catch it and you could get stranded somewhere.

 

Somewhat true. People who works there usually have never been trained properly. They just look at the machine and they just follow whatever that machine reads. The best advice is, have it checked by a reputable mechanic.

 

Glad you listened, and changed the alternator.
No point in you going through yet another battery when the alternator was always the culprit.

BC.

 

I developed this same problem about 4 days ago. Took it to Autozone and had altenator and battery tested. They both passed. Got a second opinion and took it to Advance Auto Parts for a test. The battery failed and that altenator passed. They replaced the battery under warranty. Later that day the "battery" light came on again. The test results for the altenator were: No load -> 13.82 volts and Loaded-> 14.0 volts. Shouldn't the range for altenator be between 14.2 and 14.4 volts? But according to them, the charging system passed the test.

 

Im having a similar issue....


I replaced my alternator about 3 months ago, everything seemed fine until this morning on my way to work.

As i was approaching a red light I let go of the gas, the RPM needle when low enough to where it lights up the battery indicator so I revved it up a little so the car wouldn't turn off. after that the battery light goes on and off.

When at idle it goes on but if i accelerate past ~4k it turns off, although not every time I accelerate it turns off.

I checked the alternator belt and it seems to be tight enough....


.....any idea what the problem may be?

car info:

2006
shinka
6spd Manual
~42,000 miles
alternator replaced about 3 months ago

(Idk if this has anything to do or could have contributed to the problem, but I left the car unlocked all night until this morning....)


Thanks in advance for your help guys (and possibly girls)

 

Check the charging rate @ idle and at 4K.

 

will do...

 

@ idle it reads 14.08v
@ 4k it reads 14.08v

So I disconnected the battery for a minute or so to see if it would help but when I started the car it stalled a little so I revved it up then the light came back on. I revved it and around 3k RPMs the light turned off, .I let go and the light came.back in. I revved it again, passed 3k, 4k, and around 6k it turned off

WTF IS HAPPENING TO MY BABY????????????????