the problems have begun (ALTERNATOR ?)

squirell

squirell

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Got my 96 mark 10 days ago.aside from a door switch problem i solved shes been running great.today on my way to work i went to lower the window while driving and noticed it went down very slow.then my radio lowered itself and was crackiling..the a/c stoppped.also when lowering the window the car was sputtering.parked it and it wouldnt start...any suggestions?
 
alternator is a good guess.
get it jumped, see if it comes back, and have the charging system tested.
 
Did the message center not flash a "CHECK CHARGING SYSTEM" message at you before or while any of this happened? They normally do when there is some kind of fault like this. Mine displayed very similar symptoms when my alternator went out, also a '96. You can also have the alt. bench tested, but I'd bet that it's to blame for this. If the alt does test well, then there is a plethora of other things to move onto, such as a bad ground, or a bad pigtail at the alternator. Good luck, keep us posted. Fortunately, it's not an expensive alternator, or hard to change at all. In fact, it's probably the easiest alternator to change in modern engineering.
 
the "check charging system" and battery light are worthless at best.
i drove 60 miles with system voltage starting at 11 volts, and ending below 9 volts.
not one single warning besides my aftermarket volt meter.
 
chris2523 said:
the "check charging system" and battery light are worthless at best.
i drove 60 miles with system voltage starting at 11 volts, and ending below 9 volts.
not one single warning besides my aftermarket volt meter.
Click to expand...

Huh, I guess I got the one that works. Albeit, it did not give me much warning, but it did serve its intended purpose. Granted, the system in place on my '96 Ranger was as you describe - there would be times the battery light would come on and the truck would be charging 13.7V. Other times the terminals would get flaky and it would discharge for who knows how long with not a peep. Until I parked it and the battery was flat, of course, and then I'd be popping it.
 
no message...no warning...I'll check it when I get back and keep you posted
 
Presuming there isn't a bad cell in the battery taxing the charging system, it definitely is symptomatic of a failing alternator. The alternator may test ok or borderline when bench tested cold and start to fail with heat.
 
Check the battery clamps. I had a cracked pos clamp that had a small crack in it. It seemed to eat alt's in 1 year, 3 months. Found it after the 3rd alt. Found corrosion on the regulator that alt worked good.14.4 volts, but idiot light kept coming on. I took an alt to be tested, at PB's, and it tested good. I had them do over, and 2nd time N/G. 2nd test got me my free alt.
 
I've had confirmed bad batteries and confirmed bad alternators on separate occasions on my Mark and not once has 'Check Charging System' ever come on. My battery light did come on when one of my alternators went bad. Then when that rebuilt alternator went bad a second time I didn't get any warning. In conclusion, my opinion is that those warnings on this car anyway are worthless.
 
soduka said:
I've had confirmed bad batteries and confirmed bad alternators on separate occasions on my Mark and not once has 'Check Charging System' ever come on. My battery light did come on when one of my alternators went bad. Then when that rebuilt alternator went bad a second time I didn't get any warning. In conclusion, my opinion is that those warnings on this car anyway are worthless.
Click to expand...


I concur
 
My gen 1 put on a fantastic light show when it ate it, good to see its fixed
 
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