My saga of how this board saved me from getting stranded on a road trip yesterday

[DanDombrowski]

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

[DanDombrowski]

One thing I almost left out - on our trip of the remaining 50 miles up to Gainesville after charging the battery at the parts store, I used my unlocked OBC to keep an eye on the voltage the rest of the way to see if we needed to make an emergency stop and charge the battery more. Yet another thing I learned here that saved my bacon!

[ryan roopnarine]

well, that is both sad and good for you......

if you had put out a message on the intertubes, i could have given you the voltage regulator that i keep in my toolbox, and watched the mechanic's jaw drop as he began to eat $hiat. seriously, if you do recall, the voltage regulator that bma sent me was incorrect for my alternator, and we ended up having to push the car up the parking lot for some reason (i don't remember). they probably couldn't determine the regulator that they needed until they disassembled yours. i just stole a battery charger from my grandmother's house, and i drive that stretch of road every tuesday/thursday, sometimes wednesday and monday as well. the internet can help......i always check at junkyards and ask if they will sell me just a voltage regulator. that way i always have a used belt in the spare tire well of the car, and a voltage regulator in the glovebox of nearly all of the vehicles i drive.


now i remember. you helped me push it up the parking lot because there was a street light a few spaces down, and it was after 8pm by then.

[repenttokyo]

i wish bmw had given us a voltage indicator on the dash itself, or at least somewhere that;s not buried in the OBC.

[winfred]

****, they took away our temp gauge and you want a volt meter hahahahahahahahahaha pretty soon there will just be one light that says car broken and I drive will take over and head to the nearest dealer

i wish bmw had given us a voltage indicator on the dash itself, or at least somewhere that;s not buried in the OBC.

[DanDombrowski]

Thats the joke thats been going around with the Lexus's that park themselves - it will just start driving itself to the dealer!

[DanDombrowski]

Yeah, thats right, we had to get the car under the light.

I appreciate the offer for help, but the internet wouldn't have helped me much, since I didn't have any accesss (I suppose I could have sent an email with my phone, but didn't have your address or phone number).

In any event, I don't mind paying $18 for a battery charger at the store (but it doesn't do me any good while driving).

I do remember that BMA sent the wrong part, and they probably assumed they had the voltage regulator until they looked at the part and realized that it wasn't the one that they had. On the other hand, when I called to check on the status 5 hours later, they said they hadn't even gotten the alternator in yet. So, I asked if they had even taken the old alternator out yet, and they said no. So, I wonder how they knew what the PN was on the regulator without taking out the alternator. Maybe they saw, or maybe they just didn't want to listen when I said I didn't need a new alternator, but I had no option to repair the car in the parking lot. I had people with me that needed to get back, so I just paid it.

At least I made about $270 in mileage by driving my car up there instead of riding with someone else, so in the end, its not all that bad.