Anger! Grrrr!

Chromebrow said:
Since the car is down anyway, i would pull the Alt (takes 20 mins max) and have it tested. I know my alt is the issue because I just pulled it this morning before work and the pullet has a lot of resistance to spinning. I have tested it in the past and found it to be bad but it seemed to work for so long I kind of just forgot about it. Im takinf it to work today (O'Reilly Auto Parts)and Ill get it tested along with charging the battery. I'll post all results just to help others diagnose in the future.
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I did that yesterday. Bench tested at Adv. Auto at 14.8 volts. It may still be bad, but it tested good yesterday. And there's almost no resistance when spinning the pulley. Also tested the battery and it's good too. Other than the cracked coils, I can't find anything else wrong with the electrical system.

Chromebrow said:
My symptoms also included excess noise through the radio from the air compressor, a loud "thump" when first started like an amp with bad ground makes, distorted warning beep and eventually losing all dash illumination when pressing the brake pedal, Of course this was accompanied by the abs, airbag, charging light, dash info center warnings and no headlights on the late night ride home on the winding rainy road in the woods to my house last night (that was a bucket of fun)
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Other than the ABS and TC warnings that one time, I've had no other electrical issues. Lights work, radio works, HVAC works, etc. Nothing has happened to the car to make me think there was an electrical issue until now. And with the battery and alt testing good, and five cracked coils, it just seems that the coils are the problem. I'll find out for sure soon enough...
 
So I pulled my alt this morning and took it to work and tested it....BAD!
11.36v. So I pop in the new one at lunch and the car is runnig great again.
I actually noticed a few things that were better than before, like the interior lights are so much brighter now than they have been for the last year or so, and the dinger is much loader and crisp and the trans seems to be a bit tighter.
I knew my alt was bad for some time, I had been pushing my luck as it seemed to come and go, like slow starts for a day or so and then fine again for a few weeks. Unfortunatly the evening it died was not a good one with having to work late and it raining and being dark and losing my head and dash lights. I would have to give a small bit of advice to anyone who thinks their alt is on its way out..Get it tested at a place you trust, ask to see the failed results so you know your not getting bent over and if your is bad CHANGE IT RIGHT THEN, if this had happened two weeks earlier I would have had a 30 minute all uphill drive home instead of a 5 min mostly down hill and I would have been stranded miles from home with no cell service on parts of that road.
I hope you figue this out soon and get your ride rollin again, it sucks being without your mark...even for just a day like me.
 
Glad to see you got yours going again. Unfortunately, it'll be next Wednesday before I can order my new coils. Then I'll probably have to wait another week for them to ship. So maybe I'll be back on the road before Christmas...
 
Hope your coils solve your problem.

There is a fault that can occur with alternators that is called an AC ripple.
One or more diodes in the alternator fail. You can measure this yourself if you have a digital voltmeter - place the voltmeter across the battery with the engine running. The AC volts should be well under 0.1 volt, even when the output voltage is still good. An oscilloscope gives and even better picture, but the meter tells the story. I have seen many of these. Recharging batteries by running the engine is a common cause.

One or more bad diodes can drive electronics crazy. All types of weird symptoms can be seen sometimes!

Andy.
 
This is what the majority of my coils look like. Yucky. I'm surprised the car was running at all!
Coil Cracks.jpg

Coil Cracks.jpg
 
That looks no good, so did you get them swapped out? Hows it running now?
 
Jacksun said:
If you take the alternator off make sure you disconnect the battery.
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Yeah. Did that already. Had it tested and it made 14.8 volts. So alt is ruled out for the time being. I'm pretty sure it's the cracked-all-to-pieces coils that are causing my problem.

Don Pfau said:
I see why you couldn't make it Sunday. I'd say call Barry but its not a good time:( Good Luck
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I hate I couldn't make it. I wanted to be there. And I got my coils ordered today. I'm on a non-existent budget, so I had to get the cheapies off eBay. Got a set of 8 for $78 bucks. Hopefully they'll last for a little while at least. We'll see in a few days.:)
 
Sorry If I had seen this sooner I'd have offered the ones off of my back up engine. Its a 97 with only 85,xxx miles. If it worked I'd have let you have them cheap and if not we would just switch them back. But its is at Barrys so who knows if it made it. It was in a far corner though.
 
14.8v sounds a little high.
not a problem high but getting there.
then again, my alt charges a little high when its cold, so its probably nothing.
your coils look trashed though.
 
chris2523 said:
14.8v sounds a little high.
not a problem high but getting there.
then again, my alt charges a little high when its cold, so its probably nothing.
your coils look trashed though.
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I thought it sounded a bit on the high side as well. But as long as it's not discharging I'm happy. And yeah, my coils are pretty much gone. When we got the car, it had one cracked coil on the #4 cylinder that was causing a miss. The seller replaced that one and cured the miss before I would agree to buy it. It's just wierd how this happened all at once. One minute the car's purring like a kitten, and the next it's running on 3 cylinders (literally). Hopefully she'll be back on the road again next week. I miss my car.
 
Checked UPS this morning and my coils are "in transit" to Greensboro as of 12:01 this morning! I'm still crossing my fingers that they get here tomorrow. But they're coming from Kansas, so it's doubtful.
 
Some time ago for years I worked at a Automotive electrical shop and diagnosed repaired and rebuilt automotive electronics. On a proper running 12 volt system avg. votage was 14.7 so 14.8 isn't high. I've see many Voltage regulators go bad. Some will over charge and cook a battery and blow out bulbs and electronics. I've seen voltage as high as 17 -18 volts. Just thought I'd mention it. But I hope the coils solve your problems.
 
Holy crap! Got my new coils today and installed them...HOLY CRAP!!!! It runs like a different car. Even the exhaust sounds different. It's more "raspy" now and the engine revs up 10x faster at the slightest tough of the gas pedal. Those coils have been junk since I got the car apparently. They just finally decided to give up the ghost all at once I guess. I haven't driven it down the road yet, been too busy moving furniture this evening. I'll drive it tomorrow and see how it runs out. I'll bet it accelerates better and probably gets better mpg's too. I'm a happy camper!
 
Well. She's running strong, but now I've got another CEL and it turns out it's a catalyst defficiency on bank 2. Apparently, when I drove it home 40 miles running on 3 cylinders, the cat got clogged. That sucks. I'm going to try running some Seafoam through the intake and some in the gas tank and see if that cures it. Other than that, she's running great.
 
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