Sorry, it's another alternator question...

Has anyone had an alternator go bad without the alternator light coming on first. I had no problems with it until yesterday I had a new cd player installed, professionally I might add. I took the rodeo out last night and it seemed like the dash lights were a little dim but then I thought it was just me being paranoid. Well I took it to a friends house tonight and as it sat running in his driveway it started dying, I revved it up one good time and as the idle dropped it shut off. I had to get it jumped to get it home, which was maybe a mile, shut it off and that was it. I got no warning light or anything. Sound like an alternator or just a dead battery? If it's the alt. how hard are they to change? I know they're not cheap. Oh yeah, the Rodeo's a '97 by the way. :banghead:

I would start with checking the battery connections. the shop I'm sure undid the battery before the install, so maybe the the connections are not tight.

how many miles do you have on the truck?

I thought the same thing with the connections, I checked them, they're good and tight.

I have around 97,500 miles on the Rodeo.

What did you have installed? Hate to say it, but I try to stay away from "professional installations" as much as possible. (Did my first cat back exhaust swap on my VW Tuesday and I was surprised at how easy it was. I can only imagine how much time, money, and Tylenol I saved by doing it myself!) Possible you have a short somewhere?

The only thing I had installed was a cd deck, it's my work vehicle. I normally try to do things myself too but I realized shortly after signing on to this forum and talking to people that working on these beasts is anything but easy no matter the part. So instead of giving myself the headache I let someone else do it that way i have more time to devote to "the good car", where everything is easy because I know the car inside and out. The "short" had crossed my too but I'm hoping for the alt. or the battery being the cheaper options at this point.

What is the history of the battery.

I'm not sure of the history of the battery, it was in the rodeo when I bought it in March. The headlights work might be a little dimmer than before and the radio works fine. It just won't start the car without a jump and it takes a few minutes before it takes enough charge to start it, but once I shut it off but that's it.

I just checked the terminals again and the negative was loose enough to pull off by had with a little wiggling. I only checked the positive before because I didn't think the shop would take the negative off maybe I was wrong.

2 batteries drained in 2 days...definitely the alt. I'm about sick of this thing! :banghead:

Get the latest battery properly charged and change the alt with one recommended on this board and you'll be back on the good side of the love-hate relationship with your wheels!

Ok...Fully charged battery and new alternator and still not charging ! Any ideas, anyone. I'm just fed up with this thing want to get it running so I can sell it.

Sorry your headache continues. I guess a drain somewhere wasn't ruled out. Maybe take it bake to the place that did the install and get them to check their work. Where is trooper? He likes an electrical challenge, doesn't he? Is it possible to pull the fuse for the HU and see if your problem resolves?

Where did you get the alternator? Rodeos are very picky when it comes to alternators!

I got the alternator from advance auto. I don't remember which brand I'd have to look at the receipt they gave me a choice of 5 kinds I know it's not a bosch. Is there a fusible link on the rodeo? A friend of mine told me to check that.

I got the alternator from advance auto. I don't remember which brand .... Is there a fusible link on the rodeo? ....

just don't get confused about the brands. all the rebuilt/remanufactured units are going to be the oem brand, they are just going to be rebuilt/remanufactured by different companies. i have always had excellent results with the rebuilt by bosch alternators and starters for many different vehicles.

there is more than one fusible link. look in the engine compartment fuse/relay box. but that's like any fuse, they pretty much are on/off, not intermittent or 'iffy'.

good luck

//bc

I know it's definitely rebuilt just can't remember which brand and the receipts in the rodeo. The results aren't iffy,the battery went dead, I changed it and the second went dead, recharged it and it went dead again. There wasn't even a glimmer of hope of it working since it drained the battery.

So there's just the fuses in the box, there's no other fuses on the firewall or in the lines anywhere?

I had no problems with it until yesterday I had a new cd player installed, professionally I might add.
This is the key to the problem, IMHO.

Sorry your headache continues. I guess a drain somewhere wasn't ruled out.

This is where I'd start first, make sure there wasn't a bad installation by the professionals. There wasn't a problem until they installed the CD player.

I don't think they have done a good job for you...


Good luck

I had a bad alt out of the box from Advance before.

i guess i'm not being very clear. I know it's definitely rebuilt just can't remember which brand and the receipts in the rodeo. i'm just saying the rebuilt one, whoever rebuilt it, the rebuilt one will be the Original Equipment Manufacturer brand unit, it will just be rebuilt by someone else. For example, if you get one rebuilt by bosch, it won't be a bosch alternator, it will still be the OEM brand. some people get this confused (and i guess i'm not helping any, either :eek: .)

The results aren't iffy,... i was referring to the fusible link. like any fuse, it just blows. it has nothing to do with the battery charging.


and like the guy says -- the culprit is the cd installation -- find out what they did exactly. maybe a ground was left off, or .... ?

good luck

//bc

Is there anything else in the charging system that could go bad? It sounds like, you can jump/bench charge the battery and its fine, but that its not charging on its own. I was a car audio installer for years, and if all they did was install a cd player, I have a hard time drawing the line to where it would keep your battery from charging. If the power line was grounding out, you would have blown fuses already. Sounds like either the alternator is going out again, or there is something else in the charging system that is causing problems. I am curious, because after doing some puddle jumping the other day, my volts were below 12 today (battery is only 2 months old), and I am hoping its not the alternator itself.

Jeep alts can get affected by mud after puddle jumping. Don't know if it is recommended to lightly spray these alts out or not, though, after some heavy mudding.

Washed out my alt many times, still have my same Bosch that I put in 4yrs & 70k miles ago.

I personally have gne through 3 alts. on my 97 3.2L. Could have something to do with how low the alt is placed and how high of mud I take it through. Oh well.
This is a link to a how-to article that explanes how to swap it for a cheaper and yet more powerful alt. If mine dies again, I'm gonna put this on.
http://www.planetisuzoo.com/articles.htm?id=99&180_Amp_Alternator_on_the_Isuzu_3.2_V6

we have a 96 rodeo, replaced the alternator twice with no results, if we rev the engine up to 2000 rpms the blower motor will come on and the charging light will go off. any help

I had the exact same problem. The alternator light was on, the brake light was on and the 4wd light was on faintly. When i revved it up the lights would go off but when the rpms dropped they would come back on. The blower motor on my heater didnt work at all. I bought an advance auto rebuilt alt and no changes. i took it back, they put it on the machine and it showed it was charging to 14 volts but wouldnt work on the rodeo. i ended up taking it to a alternator shop and it did turn out to be the alt. what it was was the alternator was right but the regulator in the alternator was the wrong one and would only let it charge to 6.6 volts when it was on the electrical system of the rodeo. I had the shop put a rebuilt alt that they did and it runs perfect now. If you bought an alt from advance thats probably the problem, theyre garbage. try one from a junkyard or an alternator specialist shop if you can find one, youre better off. I know this alternator problem is a pain, mine was down for 2 months. I hope this helps you out. Good Luck!