rick10

So here is a little background to my story

Last year my alternator died in toronto ... I drove my car with the battery light on from toronto ( st clair area) to mississauga... I even park my car overnight and drove it to my mechanic. He changed the alternator and everything was good (I kept the same old baterry).. Now this battery has been in my car since i bought it ( 2005) , so who knows how old this baterry really is..

Now to my problem...

I was comming back from work ( around mavis and britannia ) and my battery light starts flinking on and off ... Then slowly starts staying on ( no more flicking) , next thing I know my air conditioning dies , then my speedometer dies , then my radio dies , then the car starts hesitating.. As I m about to turn into my parking spot the car completely dies !!!! (thanks god it dies in my parkin spot) , I actually had to push it a meter to park it

So here is my question , since I changed the alternator last year , would a new alternator with a bad battery kill my new alternator faster???... I bought a baterry today but I m **** that I have to change the alternator again..

To make matters worst my car oil was low ! PLOP

Anyways please experts I need some input here before I start buying things and trying to fix the damn car. I cant even towed because the car is low and I m park in P3... I belueve changing the alternator yourself isnt hard so I may DIY this one

thanks in advance!!

rick10

Ok so i replaced the battery and the cars started fine.. Took off the negative terminal (yes i know !) and the car stayed on .. Did this a few times and the car still works


So i guess my battery was really done !!. only thing that worries me now is if I damage my alternator by letting it charge a somewhat dead battery?

is there a way for me to test if I did some damage to the alternator?

I ve read somewhere that using a voltmeter I can should be reading 12-14 volts i n my battery ... And if i have everything on (ac , lights , radio) it should not drop less than 12 volts.. Any other recomendations to test the alternator , I know it works but I want to know if it has been damage from charging a bad battery

thanks!!

tr1p

Hmmm I coulda tied a jumping rope and hauled you up lol, I'm parked in p3 aswell now.

Same issue with mine before I had bought the car, hence I'd like to know of there is a way to check the alternator, so far after 6 months my car hasn't had much problem, I just find that I have to hold the key longer than usual to start mine up lately

I think our gear heads are still asleep

l.d.forget

bring your car to part source, they have a tool that they attach to your car to test your alternator and battery. The testing of the battery is basically just a multimeter. To test the alternator manually, get someone in the car(person A) and someone holding the multimeter on the battery (person B)

B reads the voltage with car off, should be ~12volt
A turns on car,makes sure all accessories are OFF (heater, radio, lights, ect)
B reads voltage, should be ~14 volt
A revs engine
B reads voltage, should go up a bit
A turns on all accessories (Radio, turn that **** up, heater, lights, interior lights, everything)
B reads voltage, should still be ~14, could drop to 13 and be okay.
A keeps all accessories on and revs up the engine a bit
B reads voltage, should raise a bit, definitely be at ~14 volt

rick10

thanks for all the help !!!

TRip man , Im glad we live in the same condo !! If you need someone to help you , you know who to call too!!


Anyways , so here is the deal. I drove the car today for almost 8 hours (on and off), I did about 10 short trips and put on about 150 KMS. I tried not to turn the ac on because at first my car hesitated a little bit. But I did tried it after and the car ran fine... So I just came home and did a volt meter test

Here are the results


Battery with car off - 13.2 VDC
Baterry with car on ( everything off , radio ,ac , etc) - 14.30 VDC
Battery with car on and everything on ( full AC , loud radio, headlights , dash lights , reading light ) -------------- 14.05 VDC


I also did a reading of the old battery which is - 12.20

So I m guessing this means my alternator is fine right? ...

These are the results for my MAZDA 3, just as a comparison

Battery car off- 12.99
Baterry car on ( everything else off) 13.60
Battery car on ( everything on) 13.45

l.d.forget

yeah, your alts fine. Might want to look at the one on your mazda 3 though.

tr1p

Ooo this gives me something to do tomorrow.

rick10

yea . I dont think its the alternator but maybe the baterry. Car is 6 years old , and the battery its oem , so maybe time to change it..

l.d.forget

it is past due. If you want bring in the battery itself to part source and they have a testing machine for them. Might have to leave it with them for awhile depending on which model they have.

rick10

Yea I will tomorrow! Thanks man

I dont want to ruin the mazdas alternator for a 100$ battery

I will change it regardless , just because its been 6 years so may as well do it

l.d.forget

cool sounds good.

rick10

Ok so here is an update

My car died last week on highway 10 and central parkway. My alternator died and I was left with not battery. It was about 45 minutes waiting in rush hour for a tow truck to show up... I was lucky enough a flat bed showed up because my car is lowered !!... Thankfully it only cost me 60$ to tow my car to my mechanic

They replaced my alternator for 200 ( labour and part) and 1 year warranty.

Now here is the best part, I was having idle problems on and off . I ve clenaed the TB and it went away for a little while but it was still happening on and off ( now as often as before) ... Now with the new alternator my idle problem went away .. I did some research and I found that a faulty ( or going bad) alternator can cause idle problems!! specially when everything is turned on...


Anyways the car is fine now. I still keep measuring the voltage now and then and so far its been good