Breeze Bad Story

[famcraig]

My 1999 breeze died on the interstate. Daughter tells me battery light had been off and on all week.

I jump started it and drove about 1 mile, it chugged and quit. I jumped it again, this time it went into limp in mode. I drove a 20 mph for about 4 miles to a safe parking lot.

Next day after talking to others, I removed the alternator and took it to the parts store. They checked it before I bought a remanufactured one. It was working fine.

I put the alternator back in and made sure the belt and connections were tight. I jumped the car again and it was no longer in limp mode and the battery light was off. Car has been running fine for the last 4 days.

Any thoughts on what needs to be fixed or was there just a spook in the system?

[MrRoscoePC]

When the battery voltage drops below 9v the computer modules stop functioning and kill everything. The battery needs to take a charge to replenish the power taken to run the car. The recovery sounds like there was a poor connecton either on the alternator, which stopped the battery from charging, or the battery which can now take the charge. Check that all of the connections to and from the battery are tight and CLEAN. These batteries are located under the drivers side front fender which is a great place for engineers to put them if you want to rot the connections at the battery.
RG

[famcraig]

Update, I have replaced the battery a couple of weeks ago. Now, the battery light has come on again. Daughter called last night to say the car died again. I jumped it and tested the voltage of the battery when the car was running. It was about 10.7. I know it should be higher.

I took the alternator to have it checked by an auto parts place today. It was bad. The parts store said that it would be $120 to replace. I did not want to spend that much.

My daughter's boyfriend's dad and I took the alternator apart and found that the brushes were not touching the spool correctly. The springs in the unit were shot. One brush was worn smooth and shinny and the other was not. We spent time tring to find a rebuild kit but could not find one for this year of car.

My friend thought that it would work if we could find a way to move the brush unit closer. Using a small rasp file he filed the bolt holes to allow the brush unit to be positioned forward so that the brushes touched the spool. When we put the alternator back in the car we tested the voltage and it registered around 14.8. This fix will not last forever and I know that I need to get a new brush unit from a auto-electric store soon, but I can do that when I have the money and the price should be much less then replacing the alternator.