battery light

[kevxr2002]

Hey I was driving to work and my lights went pretty dim on the inside dont know about the outside cause it wasnt very dark when it happened. Then the battery light came on so I turned my lights off and the Battery light went off and so did the stereo. The stereo came back on and about 5 minutes down the road my battery, traction control, and brake light all came on. When I used my turn signals the radio kept cutting off and on. Do I just need a new battery or what? Please respond quick I would like to have an idea of what I need to do before I head home from work.

[kustomcougar]

your alternator is shot

[kevxr2002]

thats pretty much what I figured. hoppe i can make it home.

[kevxr2002]

ok so i changed out the alt on monday and drove the car a couple times this week and it was fine. today i got up the road from my house and the battery light came on again. the car didnt die and nothing turned off but i turned around and took it home and road in to work with friend instead. any ideas on what could be causing this?

[jerock03]

Could very well be another alternator....did you buy a rebuilt one?? I would take it somewhere and have it tested. If you need another one, have it tested first also...I had to replace a rebuilt one after about 3 months. Had a lot of the same problems. You can check with a volt meter and see if it is charging the battery. Rebuilt ones are prone to failing. Just make sure you get one with a lifetime warranty and you will not have to pay for a new one......I am sure you will be changing it again....and think of all the fun you get to have replacing it!...you may want to have the battery tested too, just to say you did it.

[kevxr2002]

i bought a new one from autozone with warranty. where do i need to test the volt meter at? do i just touch it to the wires on the alt or the battery?

Originally Posted by jerock03

Could very well be another alternator....did you buy a rebuilt one?? I would take it somewhere and have it tested. If you need another one, have it tested first also...I had to replace a rebuilt one after about 3 months. Had a lot of the same problems. You can check with a volt meter and see if it is charging the battery. Rebuilt ones are prone to failing. Just make sure you get one with a lifetime warranty and you will not have to pay for a new one......I am sure you will be changing it again....and think of all the fun you get to have replacing it!...you may want to have the battery tested too, just to say you did it.

[jerock03]

i bought a new one from autozone with warranty. where do i need to test the volt meter at? do i just touch it to the wires on the alt or the battery?

You should be able to test either place, I tested from both the battery and the wires coming to the battery and got the same reading. When mine was charging like it was supposed to it was around 14v.....when it was not charging like it should have been it was down around 9-10v.

[kwg2371]

check your fuseable link might have poped a fuse, Might be a good Idea getting an optima battery too.

[AliasJerk]

Originally Posted by kevxr2002

i bought a new one from autozone with warranty. where do i need to test the volt meter at? do i just touch it to the wires on the alt or the battery?

unfortunately those reman alternators are like 20% chance of being good, especially for the duratec. Everybody I have ever known to buy an alternator from autozone for a duratec has had to warrenty replace it more then once before they got a good one better off going through ford to get one

[topcat0399]

Originally Posted by kwg2371

check your fuseable link might have poped a fuse, .......

i doubt it.

before testing a battery it should be FULLY charged before testing. Any battery that reads below like 13.5 volts fully charged is probably toast, or it will be soon.

after I put in my new alternator, I had to do the "ALTERNATOR FIX" mod to fix the same problem you are having.

try searching....its been discussed many times here.