alternator woes

[whitmanink]

I measured 14.75 vdc on my 2010 GT...at idle. And 14.62 vdc on my 2011 Fusion. (again at idle).

I don't get any cycling of CD's with door open, but mines a 2010 GT, which may well be different than the 05-09 cars.

i think the cd cycling is letting me know its taking a crap,,,
my radio was drawing current ,, so i riped the fuse out,,, nomore drained batt,,,, butttttt.......

i still only get 13.4volts at idle or revved up,, so a rebuild kit is in order,, the radio can wait since im catless and Stright piped ,, you cant hear it anywho lol

 

[Juice]

i think the cd cycling is letting me know its taking a crap,,,
my radio was drawing current ,, so i riped the fuse out,,, nomore drained batt,,,, butttttt.......

i still only get 13.4volts at idle or revved up,, so a rebuild kit is in order,, the radio can wait since im catless and Stright piped ,, you cant hear it anywho lol

If your battery is not fully charged, voltage dont mean much. 13.4 v could very well be normal if the battery is low.

 

[golkhl]

My 2008 Shaker500 cd changer crapped out a number of years ago, resulting in a battery drain. I found an oem replacement online, swapped it out, so far so good.

If you pull the radio, you can unplug the cd changer, to confirm whether or not it is your issue.

 

[whitmanink]

If your battery is not fully charged, voltage dont mean much. 13.4 v could very well be normal if the battery is low.

i have a battery charger \reconditioner so each time i tryed it,, the batt was always a full charge of at least 12.32 volts

 

[AnthonyBirge07]

Check your wiring at the alt mine kept flaking out turns out the female clips in the plug expand with engine heat and when I put new alt in they pushed slightly out of the plug , solution for me was toothpick tips to hold clips from expansion /slight twist on pins in alt with forceps and when reconnecting make sure the wires don't back out -same forceps used to push slightly on each wire til I felt solid connection , ford wiring is cheap as free lunch, way to save a buck ford but now that is done , anyone got any advice towards charcoal canister delete options ?
Ps I don't live in California so as of now CARB is not an issue but this p0442 randomly popping up is annoying the crap outta me, oh and please don't recommend checking the gas cap . I think we are all well past day one diagnostics.
Thanks in advance

 

[Juice]

i have a battery charger \reconditioner so each time i tryed it,, the batt was always a full charge of at least 12.32 volts

12.3v is low,
12.6v or better is fully charged.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

I still only get 13.4volts at idle or revved up,, so a rebuild kit is in order,, the radio can wait since I'm catless and straight piped, you cant hear it anyhow lol

Who needs a radio when you have the sweet sound of heavy metal coming from a 4.6 3V?

I have a battery charger/reconditioner so each time i tried it, the batt was always a full charge of at least 12.32 volts

Your battery is actually at about 70% charge but since the alternator is only adding another 1.1v, this is a sure fire indication that the alternator is weak.

 

[whitmanink]

Who needs a radio when you have the sweet sound of heavy metal coming from a 4.6 3V?



Your battery is actually at about 70% charge but since the alternator is only adding another 1.1v, this is a sure fire indication that the alternator is weak.

yes i agree %1000 about the sound coming out the rear,, always get thumbs up ,,even from the Amish,,, (weird i thought)
but yea today i went out and the battery was at 7volts, not the 4v or 5v it would be at with radio hooked up,,but no good none the less,, im gonna pull the alt today and check the clip as suggested above, but i feel it needs a rebuild so this morning i ordered it and get express shipping so it should be here tomorrow or Saturday,, and just to be sure im gonna unhook the alt and see if i get a drain still , im sure i wont,,

but none the less it will be rebuilt and at a later time , buy a new one in altogether ,,
my next step is painting the car,, than turbo time

 

[Juice]

12.3 is not 70% charged.
Having the battery discharge below 12v zaps life out of a battery. 7v? Time for new battery and alternator, or you will be chasing this issue repeatedly.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

today i went out and the battery was at 7volts, not the 4v or 5v it would be at with radio hooked up but no good none the less

Your radio has drained the battery too many times but now even without the radio hooked up, the battery has managed to go flat. It does sound like you might have to chase down possibly another parasitic drain e.g. trunk subwoofer, aftermarket immobilizer. I suggest you use your digital multimeter to rule that possibility out before you recharge the battery (if it isn't completely dead now) and fix the alternator.

 

[DieHarder]

Check your wiring at the alt mine kept flaking out turns out the female clips in the plug expand with engine heat and when I put new alt in they pushed slightly out of the plug , solution for me was toothpick tips to hold clips from expansion /slight twist on pins in alt with forceps and when reconnecting make sure the wires don't back out -same forceps used to push slightly on each wire til I felt solid connection , ford wiring is cheap as free lunch, way to save a buck ford but now that is done , anyone got any advice towards charcoal canister delete options ?
Ps I don't live in California so as of now CARB is not an issue but this p0442 randomly popping up is annoying the crap outta me, oh and please don't recommend checking the gas cap . I think we are all well past day one diagnostics.
Thanks in advance

There are replacement plugs available for about $10 - $30 on feebay or you can find them at auto stores as well. Replaced mine. Easy. Just be sure not to mix up the wiring and I'd recommend soldering and heat shrink vs using crimp connectors.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...+-+2009+Ford+mustang+alternator+plug&_sacat=0

 

[msvela448]

One other note for possible parasitic drain...
Do you have any LED bulbs in the taillights, third brake light, marker lights, etc...? I had an issue where the SJB would keep a small about of voltage applied to the third brake light because it was LED, and it couldn't sense any load (resistance)... It's how the SJB determines if you have a light bulb out. I soldered a small 1000 ohm resistor across the third brake light wires and the SJB now turns off the power to that circuit.

Also... When you do replace the alternator get one from Department of Boost. Jason is great to deal with and the alternators are nice Denso units.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[Juice]

One other note for possible parasitic drain...
Do you have any LED bulbs in the taillights, third brake light, marker lights, etc...? I had an issue where the SJB would keep a small about of voltage applied to the third brake light because it was LED, and it couldn't sense any load (resistance)... It's how the SJB determines if you have a light bulb out. I soldered a small 1000 ohm resistor across the third brake light wires and the SJB now turns off the power to that circuit.

Also... When you do replace the alternator get one from Department of Boost. Jason is great to deal with and the alternators are nice Denso units.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

It is not about having LED bulbs causing the draw. LEDs only let you see that power is never truely off on the lights. Having LEDs should actually reduce key off draw a tiny amount.
That faint glow from the LEDs is because the sjb uses transistors to turn the lights on/off. So there is a small amount of current leakage. The sjb may even use that to detect bulb outage. This also explains why the side marker and rear bulbs dont last as long as they should. (Always powered) I kept replacing side markers before putting in LEDs. The SJB was reporting almost all bulbs open or " shorted to power or open" after installing the LEDs. But bulbs out dont set a dash warning, only SJB fault codes.

 

[msvela448]

We are saying the same thing.

Agreed... The LED's are not drawing any current just because they are LED's. And when in operation, LED's do in fact draw less power.

However... The SJB applies a small amount of power to those light circuits to determine if the bulb (normally an incandescent filament style) is present and in tact. For example, that "test power" is what causes the fast flash feature on a turn signal when a bulb is out... Or when they've been replaced with LED's. The lack of a high enough resistance to satisfy the SJB that the circuit isn't open (caused by a burnt out bulb, or low-resistance LED) sets the condition. In other words... The lower resistance of an LED light is just like having a burnt out incandescent bulb.

It took me a while to figure this out. The small amount of power that is applied by the SJB to "test" for the bulb is not enough to cause a traditional incandescent to glow, but an LED bulb might show a very faint glow in total darkness... I actually only noticed my LED third brake light glowing during a total power outage in my neighborhood. I measured it with a volt meter and sure enough there was like 5v being applied. As soon as I touched a resistor across the wires (which acts like a filament of a normal bulb) the voltage turned off.

Long way of saying that if the OP has some LED's the SJB might be leaving some circuits turned on even when the car is off, and causing a parasitic drain.

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[whitmanink]

well ,, my car has no leds in the tail of my car or front (yet) the third brake light i think are leds but im not sure,, never really looked tbh i think my rear view mirror lights are not even led,, the only led i got is the color cup holder that you can press the button and change the color of it (this was stock on the 45th i believe,, other than that ,, i just went out,, the battery is still holding 12volts (not hooked up tho) i feel like it has something to do with my alternator still ,,

i got side track last night and didnt get to go unhook the alt and than see if the battery still drains,,, my new front control arm came lastnight so Saturday im gonna really go at this and figure it out,,

i ordered the rebuild kit,, so im crossing my fingers i can do that this weekend as well

 

[whitmanink]

One other note for possible parasitic drain...


Also... When you do replace the alternator get one from Department of Boost. Jason is great to deal with and the alternators are nice Denso units.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

says discontinued.............................

 

[Pentalab]

says discontinued.............................

If buying a new alternator, get the 2010 version. 135 amps.

 

[msvela448]

says discontinued.............................

Call a guy named Doug at D&D Auto Electric in Wheat Ridge, CO 303-423-6522... He can get you the parts for rebuild... Or you could ship it to him for rebuild... He is super reasonable on pricing.

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[DieHarder]

13.4v is a bit low. Should be around 14.2 - 14.7v. Recommend cleaning all of the major grounds for the engine and retest. If the environment you live in is near salt water or if they salt the roads in winter engine/body grounds/major battery cables can corrode/increase their resistance making the alternator look like it's failing when in fact the grounds have increased their resistance to electrical flow. Often unbolting them; cleaning/wire brushing and reinstalling can improve their continuity and the output of your alternator. If your main battery cable are badly oxidized they can be replaced. Replaced mine and saw a jump of ~1v; (12.6v to 13.5). Then I added an additional ground from the body of the alternator to the main ground on the strut tower and improved my alternator output to 14.3 - 14.5v.

 

[whitmanink]

`******update********

so i got around to rebuilding the alt (minus bearings ,still went smooth so no need)
and at start up she went from 12.53volts to 14.6 volts..
the check charge light has not come back one,, (drove over 60 miles)
and my battery didnt die overnight,,

so thanks to everyone who took time to try and help me figure this one out,
and another big thanks to DINO for pointing me in the right direction of a rebuild kit,, no biggie really , just saved me from buying a $250+ new alternator..

thanks again guys