Bad Alternator

[laura_thieret]

Hello Everyone. I am a proud owner of a 1981 Datsun 280ZX. I can honestly say it is probably the best car I've ever owned, even with 200k mils on it.

Anyways, it recently started going dead out of the blue, very quickly. I was heading home from work one day last week when I noticed the volt meter light come on and my warning lights come on. I made it home, but within an hour it was dead. We jumped it, and the same thing happened; dead in less than an hour. I didn't think it was the alternator because its only about a year and a half old, the battery tested good, and the wiring connecting the two was replaced only 5 months ago. Upon closer examination, we noticed a 1 inch burnt hole on the underside of the hood that matched up with the positive battery terminal. So we figured out that the terminal must have been welding itself to the hood of the car, therefore shorting itself out. We covered the terminals, which helped for a while, but not for long. Last night I was about 15 miles from my home in the car when the volt meter dropped all the way down to 6 (the lowest). The car all of the sudden was not on..I panicked and luckily was 50 feet from a gas station that I simply rolled into. We got a guy to jump us, we have our own battery cables, and instead of turning over like it did before right away, the volt meter tiredly went up between 8 and 10, but the engine would not turn over. We let the cables sit for 10 minutes. When it turned over, I reved the engine to the floor, but as soon as the cables came off it quit. Now the car is still sitting in that gas station parking lot, we are assuming that the welded hole in the hood was the cause of the alternator getting fried. But I am confused about one thing. If we go there tonight with a freshly charged batter, will that give us enough power to make it the 15 miles home? The alternator is dead, its obvious because the battery no longer holds a charge. Should I call a tow truck and not take the risk of ending up on the highway? Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Laura

[1viadrft]

You should probably call a tow truck... 'cus if you venture out in the state that your car is in... you are gnna have to call one anyway... and YES... I'm 99% sure it's the alternator. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[Zgringo]

Put the good battery in and start it and check what the voltage is at the battery. It should be 13.7 or more, if it isn't then your alt. is gone, and maybe your battery also. When you dead short a battery sometimes it draws so much current it warps the battery plates and ruins the battery.

[k3smostwanted]

definitely bring a tow truck. the alternator is probably fried so therefore your car will be running on staright battery and nothing recharging it. probably wont last more than 5 minutes with everything running off of that battery.

[Hodo]

Do a alternator, charge test on the car... its not hard if you have a Digital Volt Ohm meter. Jump the car, get it running and check to see if you have voltage going to the alternator, if you dont then theres your problem, alot cheaper than replaceing a alternator, and its a common thing to get missplaced or forgotten about when installed. If its not that check the AC voltage across the battery terminals, if you have more than, I think .5 volts AC your diods in the Alternator are shot, time for another alternator (dont qoute me on this number). Then if its that I suggest finding out why your diods burned out so soon. If you slap a new alternator in there it will just happen again in a few months if not weeks. Also the burned section of wire where was it headed to and from?