milkyspit
Flashlight Enthusiast
I need help from some of you auto guys on diagnosing a problem with my wife's car!
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Last week my wife went out to her car, a 1990 Toyota Camry that's generally been running well, and it wouldn't start. Wouldn't even turn over. The strange thing is that it happened when she was at a local farmer's market getting some stuff... and when she had started the car to GO to the farmer's market maybe half an hour earlier, the engine started just fine!
She called me at work, and I instructed her to get a jump start from someone else in the parking lot. She did, drove home, and the car ran just fine.
When I got home, I measured the battery voltage with my DMM, and it read 12.58V. Then I started the car... started fine... and read the voltage again, with it presumably coming this time from the alternator... it read something around 13.8V. (I don't remember this particular number exactly.) I let the car idle for about 15 minutes, then shut it off and again measured the battery's voltage, which was around 13.02V, so I assumed things were working properly, as it seemed like the battery was slowly recharging as expected.
Today she called me again at work to tell me that the car DIED WHILE SHE WAS DRIVING IT. This is bad!!! She had the good sense to pull to the side of the road immediately, and fortunately for us a local architect came out to assist her. He jump started the car and followed her home to make sure it didn't die again en route. As he was leaving, he suggested that the alternator might be shot, mainly because the battery in the car is only a year old, is a very good battery... and because a bad battery wouldn't have started the car, but then caused it to die in the middle of driving.
I can add the following background information. About a year ago the battery we had in the car at that time "died" and was replaced by my uncle, who's generally an excellent mechanic. At the time he said the car still had its original alternator, but that it seemed to be functioning properly. However, about a year before THAT I replaced the PRIOR battery myself when THAT one had seemingly "died." So we're on our third battery in a 2-3 year span. Something ain't right, and IMHO it's not that we're buying crummy batteries! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
This brings us to the inevitable questions: what's wrong, what should I replace, and how can I get it done as inexpensively as possible without sacrificing the quality of the repair? I'm guessing alternator for now, but does this history sound like the symptoms typical of a dying alternator? What do I do?
I'm pretty much an automobile engine newbie. If anyone can offer some advice to get me going in the right direction, please do!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif
Last week my wife went out to her car, a 1990 Toyota Camry that's generally been running well, and it wouldn't start. Wouldn't even turn over. The strange thing is that it happened when she was at a local farmer's market getting some stuff... and when she had started the car to GO to the farmer's market maybe half an hour earlier, the engine started just fine!
She called me at work, and I instructed her to get a jump start from someone else in the parking lot. She did, drove home, and the car ran just fine.
When I got home, I measured the battery voltage with my DMM, and it read 12.58V. Then I started the car... started fine... and read the voltage again, with it presumably coming this time from the alternator... it read something around 13.8V. (I don't remember this particular number exactly.) I let the car idle for about 15 minutes, then shut it off and again measured the battery's voltage, which was around 13.02V, so I assumed things were working properly, as it seemed like the battery was slowly recharging as expected.
Today she called me again at work to tell me that the car DIED WHILE SHE WAS DRIVING IT. This is bad!!! She had the good sense to pull to the side of the road immediately, and fortunately for us a local architect came out to assist her. He jump started the car and followed her home to make sure it didn't die again en route. As he was leaving, he suggested that the alternator might be shot, mainly because the battery in the car is only a year old, is a very good battery... and because a bad battery wouldn't have started the car, but then caused it to die in the middle of driving.
I can add the following background information. About a year ago the battery we had in the car at that time "died" and was replaced by my uncle, who's generally an excellent mechanic. At the time he said the car still had its original alternator, but that it seemed to be functioning properly. However, about a year before THAT I replaced the PRIOR battery myself when THAT one had seemingly "died." So we're on our third battery in a 2-3 year span. Something ain't right, and IMHO it's not that we're buying crummy batteries! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
This brings us to the inevitable questions: what's wrong, what should I replace, and how can I get it done as inexpensively as possible without sacrificing the quality of the repair? I'm guessing alternator for now, but does this history sound like the symptoms typical of a dying alternator? What do I do?
I'm pretty much an automobile engine newbie. If anyone can offer some advice to get me going in the right direction, please do!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif