Alternator shot at 55k in '01 OBW

Sep 17, 2006 1 Replies
J

The red light went on, and the dealer said I needed a new one. No headline here, but I put about 200,000 miles on each of my two preceding cars without this. Is it common for an alternator to go so soon?



IAC, the red light went on when I was 30 miles from home (and in Canada no less). I drove home, worrying the while. Next morning, the car started right up and I drove to the dealer's, on surface roads rather than freeway. My question: am I a blooming idiot to drive 30 miles with the red light on?


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R

Hi,

Alternators can go forever, or die quickly, with little apparent reason! Those that I've had go "prematurely" succumbed to bad batteries or moisture. If you've had a bad battery in the past, or went thru a big enough puddle recently to splash water in the alternator (or, as I did, bathed the engine w/o remembering to cover the alternator), that MIGHT explain it. Might not...

Be sure to have that battery checked, too. Don't want to have 'em put in a new alternator only to have it overwork itself right out of the box charging a weak battery. Many of today's batteries don't like being discharged very deeply--I don't know if your 30 miles plus a restart were enough to hurt things. Best to check!

Rick

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