94 Wagon - Alternator overcharging, front power windows broken, now won't start.

[MrAstro]

It's been a rough couple months. I own a 1994 Buick Centrury Wagon... (3.1)

1. I've been replacing alternators left and right, finally I figured out that if I drive in the rain the alternator is overcharging the battery and eventually the alternator just fries itself. I have replaced it three or four times in the last 6 months... I figure it is a short somewhere, any idea how I can find it, or where at least to look? Is it safe to spray water in specific areas to try and find it?

2. My front power windows are not functioning any longer... any idea why both would die at the same time? I am guessing a fuse - I have to find out which it is and check that, but I did pull a number of them today and all were fine except for the cigarette lighter fuse.

3. Today, after one of the coldest nights of the year (windy and snowy to boot), my car wouldn't start at all. Just a click. There is power going to everything, but the engine won't even attempt to turn over. I'm going to try and find the starter, and see if I can't bridge the thing and start the car that way. If it does start that way, can I assume that it is the starter that is broken?


Sorry, I don't know a lot about cars. I know how to replace the alternator on a 1994 Buick Century, and that's about it. I'm not afraid to learn though.

[NakedDancer]

First thing is go to autozone and get yourself a Hays manuel. It will help you find things like the starter with realtive ease and may even save you a few headaches over the next few years. If your battery is going bad/or poorley charged the car will not start in the cold sometimes, try getting someone to jump you. Now if it starts either the battery is bad or the alternator is fried again.

Now as for the other problem, I think you have a loose connection somewhere or you have wires exposed that when water is tossed up on them during natural driving in the rain that causes them to arch (water is a fine conductor). Look under the car where water can easly get to wiring, I would start with the starter and see if you have any wires that are loose. Check the battery and see if you have if hooked up correctly and that all connections are tight. BTW take the negative battery cable off before you start tightening/fixing anywires.

Power windows: could be a broken wire in the boot in the door. Do a search of this forum and you will find out how to fix that. Do the back windows row down? If you have a major short then you might be looking at both window motors being dammaged by the arching problem you have already described but being it's a 94 I'm leaning towards a broken/ multiple broken wires in the door.

[MrAstro]

Thanks - yes, the battery needed a good jumping, that fixed the starting issue.

At times, my car has misbehaved in the rain before I have driven at all - even in wet snow... this leads me to believe that the short is toward the front end of the car, because its really the only place that water seeps down heavily (at the end of the hood). It has crossed my mind to sit out in the driveway with a hose and see if that theory is correct, though I suppose every time my alternator starts overcharging everything we're risking losing something.

Do you think that one broken wire would knock out both front windows at the same time? The rear windows do work, and they do go down using the front door switches.

[NakedDancer]

Check for a loose connection or an area where the coating is burned through in your heavy wires up frount. Pay special attention to the wires running off the alternator. Lift them up and check every inch for dammaged areas in the plastic coating. Any part of the wire lying on the engine would be a good place to start. If a wire is loose it can cause things to get really hot, you wouldn't nessarly even see a spark. You can always go outside a night start the engine and turn all the lights off. Pop the hood and see if you see any sparks flying. Perhaps when things get damp outside condensation around the loose wire causes it to ground out even more? The only wire I can think that runs to the outer doghouse is a ground that runs off the battery. Have you replaced the battery recently? What makes you think the alternator is overcharging?

Well as for the window you either have two broken wires or both motors are fried. Does the passanger side front work with it's own switch? I'd still gamble on it being in that boot in the driver side door. There is a wiring diagram for those windows in this forum that may help you trace the wires. I think it's titled "on the road but still more problems" or somthing simular. It can't be a fuse or it would have taken all the windows out.

[MrAstro]

The battery has been replaced within the last year or 18 months... I do a lot of short trips (less than a mile) though so that could explain the battery dying the other day in the cold.

I guess I am only assuming the alternator is overcharging - the battery gauge hits the roof in the rain and the battery light comes on. Perhaps the short causes the gauge to go up, and not the alternator to overcharge?


Neither front window works with any switch, I will check for that posting - it still strikes me as uncoincidental that both windows went out at the same time, but I guess you are saying there is nothing that ties them together except for the fuse, and if the fuse were out it would also cause the rear windows to cease functioning properly.