plz help!!! 99 cougar

[forum2003]

wanted to know what you all thought about this problem.. i just recently had my alternator go and about a week and a half later i was driving and my whole dasboard lit up..and what i mean by that is it flashed and my cd player skipped as well.. about 15 seconds later the whole thing shut off? my engine light just turned on that day and my radiator light turns on and off every week or so? my friend thinks my engine overheated? wondering if any of you had any feedback for me thanks.. : )

[beyondloadedSE]

well, i guess the obvious question was, was your coolant temp needle pegged? If you were running the heat, did your heat all the sudden run cold? Those are signs of overheating. I doubt even if it did overheat, it would cause those problems. It still sounds like an electrical issue to me. The radiator light comes on because your not filling it high enough. It needs to be filled about 1/2" above the full line. The light is more prone to coming on if you park on an incline as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the alternator relay took a dump (as it usually does) when the alternator broke. Either that, or your new alternator was installed incorrectly.

[missesm]

happened to me once, turns out the fuse for my charging system blew, they replaced it and it was fine...

[beyondloadedSE]

Originally Posted by missesm

happened to me once, turns out the fuse for my charging system blew, they replaced it and it was fine...

just as i said above, the relay takes a crap when the alternator does generally. I stand by that assumption.