DanDombrowski
09-20-2007, 01:08 PM
So I was driving from West Palm Beach to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida Career fair to recruit new graduates for my company. I graduated from UF 2 years ago, so it was a fun chance to go up and hang out for awhile instead of being at work.
So, about 250 miles into the 300 mile trip, the anti-lock light pops up on the dash. Wonderful, I thought, $200 gone for a stupid wheel sensor or something. So, another 2 or 3 minutes and the Check engine light comes on. I thought it was strange that they would both come on together, but the car seemed to be running alright and I still had brakes. Another minute, and my brake fluid light comes on, so at this point I decide I need to stop and see whats up.
By the time I could get to the next exit, the tach started to swing wildly and then just stopped at 0, even though the car was running. At this point - I had an idea what was going on. I remember helping Ryan Roopnarine with his car a few years back when he had a bad voltage regulator that was causing the alternator not to charge and he said all of his gauges went to 0. If it weren't for this board, the first thing I would think when seeing everything go nuts is - ECU just went to hell or the wiring harness is damaged.
So, I pulled off the highway with the car barely running, called my girlfriend, and had her find me an advance auto parts. Barely made it into the parking lot, the car died just after I checked the voltage at the terminals - 7V. So yeah, alternator not working.
So, while I was deciding what to do, we pulled the battery out and brought it in for free charging (Thank you Advance auto!). Called up a shop I knew of in Gainesville and asked if they'd be able to do a voltage regulator swap for me tomorrow while I was at the career fair - they said no prob.
So after about 30 mins, I bought a trickle charger for $17, we threw the battery back in the car and drove the remaining 50 miles or so. Got up to Gainesville just as it was getting dark, pulled the battery from the car, and stuck it on the charger in our hotel room so I would have enough juice to drop my partner off at the career fair and get it to the repair shop the next day.
Long story short, they didn't want to replace just the voltage regulator for $50, but insisted I needed a new alternator ($280). After arguing with them for a bit, they came back and said they couldn't get the voltage regulator for that alternator in that day (hello, thats why I called FKING yesterday!) Since I had to drive home that day, and didn't know how far I could run on a fully charged battery, and I didn't have the time to do the work myself in any parking lots, I sucked it up and had them install a new alternator. Bye bye $400.
All in all, I overpaid for an alternator I didn't need, but thanks to my experience on this board and an awesome policy at the auto parts stores, I saved myself probably a $200 towing bill (and being stranded in Ocala without making it up for happy hour at the hotel!)
I can think of far worse ways that situation could have gone. No real question, just thought I'd share. Oh, and in case you're worried that this might happen to you on a trip, keeping one of those battery booster packs in your trunk (like I own but did not have in the car!) would probably give you a good hour or two of additional run time with no alternator. Besides, they're a good thing to keep for emergencies anyway.
Later!
Dan
So, about 250 miles into the 300 mile trip, the anti-lock light pops up on the dash. Wonderful, I thought, $200 gone for a stupid wheel sensor or something. So, another 2 or 3 minutes and the Check engine light comes on. I thought it was strange that they would both come on together, but the car seemed to be running alright and I still had brakes. Another minute, and my brake fluid light comes on, so at this point I decide I need to stop and see whats up.
By the time I could get to the next exit, the tach started to swing wildly and then just stopped at 0, even though the car was running. At this point - I had an idea what was going on. I remember helping Ryan Roopnarine with his car a few years back when he had a bad voltage regulator that was causing the alternator not to charge and he said all of his gauges went to 0. If it weren't for this board, the first thing I would think when seeing everything go nuts is - ECU just went to hell or the wiring harness is damaged.
So, I pulled off the highway with the car barely running, called my girlfriend, and had her find me an advance auto parts. Barely made it into the parking lot, the car died just after I checked the voltage at the terminals - 7V. So yeah, alternator not working.
So, while I was deciding what to do, we pulled the battery out and brought it in for free charging (Thank you Advance auto!). Called up a shop I knew of in Gainesville and asked if they'd be able to do a voltage regulator swap for me tomorrow while I was at the career fair - they said no prob.
So after about 30 mins, I bought a trickle charger for $17, we threw the battery back in the car and drove the remaining 50 miles or so. Got up to Gainesville just as it was getting dark, pulled the battery from the car, and stuck it on the charger in our hotel room so I would have enough juice to drop my partner off at the career fair and get it to the repair shop the next day.
Long story short, they didn't want to replace just the voltage regulator for $50, but insisted I needed a new alternator ($280). After arguing with them for a bit, they came back and said they couldn't get the voltage regulator for that alternator in that day (hello, thats why I called FKING yesterday!) Since I had to drive home that day, and didn't know how far I could run on a fully charged battery, and I didn't have the time to do the work myself in any parking lots, I sucked it up and had them install a new alternator. Bye bye $400.
All in all, I overpaid for an alternator I didn't need, but thanks to my experience on this board and an awesome policy at the auto parts stores, I saved myself probably a $200 towing bill (and being stranded in Ocala without making it up for happy hour at the hotel!)
I can think of far worse ways that situation could have gone. No real question, just thought I'd share. Oh, and in case you're worried that this might happen to you on a trip, keeping one of those battery booster packs in your trunk (like I own but did not have in the car!) would probably give you a good hour or two of additional run time with no alternator. Besides, they're a good thing to keep for emergencies anyway.
Later!
Dan