alternators

On Sun, 13 Nov 2005 17:38:27 -0800, kirk doyle rearranged some electrons to form:

Put a voltmeter on the battery terminals while the engine is running. Make sure you have at least 13.5 volts. If not, the alternator is not charging properly.

Many auto parts stores will check it for free. Auto Zone is one of them. They can check your battery too.

By far the easiest way is to go to Advance Auto Parts, or about any of the chains. They have a machine that can test the alternator and battery with them still in the car. They can even load test the alternator. Best of all, it's free.

CJB

And turn on all the lights and accessories for a load check.

"sergesleo" wrote: > how do you check to see if your alternator is going bad? > Kirk > > > -- > LIGHTNING NEWS > Newsgroup access for as little as $5 per month > Private & Anonymous! > LIGHTNING fast Unscensored Downloads! > ALL THE NEWSGROUPS at

the easiet way to do it would be to loosen the battery connection on one end and turn the vehicle on and then take the battery connection off, if the car stalls that means your alternator is no good

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 19:36:47 +0000, melly717 rearranged some electrons to form:

Please don't take this extremely bad advice. The poster doesn't know what he's talking about. Doing the above is likely to damage the regulator, the computers, and many other portions of the car's electronics. What the poster suggests will cause a load dump and a large voltage spike on your electrical system.

Instead, measure the battery voltage while the engine is running, with some load on it (ie. headlights). If it is around 13.8 volts the alternator is probably OK. You can take the vehicle to any of your local parts stores; most of them will do a free load test of the battery and charging system.