Alternator issues or something else?

[Rm88x]

been having issues with my 03 Ford Focus se
ZTEC motor. I had the alternator replaced about 7-8
months ago, and recently been having issues with it
again I was told my alternators shot, needs
replaced already...? Here’s what’s happening I’ve
noticed occasionally when my cars turned on in
park my battery light will flash and sounds like it
want to shit off, also does this without battery
symbol flashing when I turn my ac and my cars in
park or stopped it wants to shut off then other day I
was running my ac to unfog my windows I smelled
something burning pulled over looked under the
hood and front right corner was smoking. Then yesterday driving I stopped at a convenience store got turned car off for maybe 2-3 minutes went fired it back up and it started but turned off right away tried again same thing, again this time put my foot on the gas right away and it stayed running but soon as I left off the gas it shuts off... Anyone
have any clue what’s going on does this sound like
a alternator problem or something else to be fixed?!

 

[NutBucket]

I think you need a different mechanic. What was the source of the smoke?

 

[Rm88x]

Believe it was coming from a belt I’m not too sure

 

[feralkid]

I had an alternator fail in a very similar fashion; beware in case of an alternator internal short, as it still is connected to the battery when the engine is off, and therefore can fry things even further.

Mine almost did.

 

[pcgeek11]

Probably installed a remanufactured POS.

 

[mindless1]

Locate the component that is smoking. If it is just a minor leak like the valve cover gasket, it can wait as long as you keep an eye on your oil level. If it is a water pump, replace the pump before driving it much further. If it is something else leaking, you need a better mechanic if they can't tell you what's up.

With engine off, measure battery voltage, fully charged should be around 12.6V. With engine on, measure again, should be closer to 14.4V. If the battery was low before the engine was started it may take a little while to hit 14.4-ish volts.

If in doubt about battery fitness, consider its age and put a charger on it, disconnect the battery cables to the vehicle and once it is fully charged, (if it ever gets there), wait an hour and measure voltage. If it has dropped much, the battery is shot. This can also be checked at some auto parts stores, as can the alternator.

If it is not an alternator electrical problem but rather the bearings failing, you should hear that or see pulley wobble from it. If you have a belt tensioner problem you should see excessive belt play or can observe the position of the tensioner. It probably has marks cast into the metal indicating it is at end of travel. At the age of your vehicle it may be due for a new belt and tensioner.

If the alternator was replaced only 8 months ago, it should (usually) still have a warranty covering it. Then again if it was a generic junk brand or poorly remanufactured, you might not want the same make/model put back on if it's going to fail every 8 mos. If that turns out to be the case, when you get the warranty replacement, I'd sell it while *new* and instead get a major brand new alternator OR rebuild it yourself, except that if you are having someone else install alternators, then rebuilding one seems beyond what you'd be willing to do.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Locate the component that is smoking. If it is just a minor leak like the valve cover gasket, it can wait as long as you keep an eye on your oil level. If it is a water pump, replace the pump before driving it much further. If it is something else leaking, you need a better mechanic if they can't tell you what's up.

With engine off, measure battery voltage, fully charged should be around 12.6V. With engine on, measure again, should be closer to 14.4V. If the battery was low before the engine was started it may take a little while to hit 14.4-ish volts.

If in doubt about battery fitness, consider its age and put a charger on it, disconnect the battery cables to the vehicle and once it is fully charged, (if it ever gets there), wait an hour and measure voltage. If it has dropped much, the battery is shot. This can also be checked at some auto parts stores, as can the alternator.

If it is not an alternator electrical problem but rather the bearings failing, you should hear that or see pulley wobble from it. If you have a belt tensioner problem you should see excessive belt play or can observe the position of the tensioner. It probably has marks cast into the metal indicating it is at end of travel. At the age of your vehicle it may be due for a new belt and tensioner.

If the alternator was replaced only 8 months ago, it should (usually) still have a warranty covering it. Then again if it was a generic junk brand or poorly remanufactured, you might not want the same make/model put back on if it's going to fail every 8 mos. If that turns out to be the case, when you get the warranty replacement, I'd sell it while *new* and instead get a major brand new alternator OR rebuild it yourself, except that if you are having someone else install alternators, then rebuilding one seems beyond what you'd be willing to do.

Looks like you went after every possibility.

I had a new alternator installed in 2009. A year later, it was on the fritz. The repair-shop and its master-mechanic reinstalled a new one under their warranty.

Since then, I may have taken measures that reduce the wear on an alternator, though mostly by moving from incandescent bulbs to LEDs for all but three bulbs of the car's exterior. I can explain that further, but suffice to say high-lumens headlights, parking lights, signal and hazard lights and all the passenger-hold illumination lights are now running LED equivalents to their incandescent type and product code. Generally, they are all brighter than new incandescent bulbs.

I thought at times when running the car that I could notice the difference. In any case, the battery is always charged up so well that I can stand with both feet on the garage floor, turn the key and hear it fire up and be running smoothly in what seems like less than a second. The new MP3 player I installed in the dashboard (See my "Final Word" thread) shows an initial battery charge of 14.4V when the engine is first started.

But I never did the math to determine just exactly how many fewer watts I was consuming than with the incandescent lights.

 

[mindless1]

Alternators are designed to put out dozens of amps, probably near 100A or more on your older SUV. A small difference from LED bulbs, shouldn't matter, as this is the factory designed load, not a big additional load. The alternator was bad.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Alternators are designed to put out dozens of amps, probably near 100A or more on your older SUV. A small difference from LED bulbs, shouldn't matter, as this is the factory designed load, not a big additional load. The alternator was bad.

Well, as I said -- I didn't investigate further on the impact of the LED replacements.

It seems throughout my experience with cars, reman and after-market alternators had a bigger chance of earlier failure before you'd expect them to fail. For my Hondas, I may have gone through two after-market alternators in a year's time. They couldn't have cost more than $100/each -- maybe more like $60. Finally, I just shelled out something between $200 and $400 for the Honda OEM unit, with no more problems.

The OP mentions the smell of something burning. Usually, you can tell the difference between oil fumes and something electrical. Of course, this reminds me that I'm overdue for replacing the kitchen exhaust fan. I was experiencing that smell for a good part of two days before I discovered the dead fan, with kruft stuck in the blades.

 

[mindless1]

^ Guess it depends on the situation. If I were putting an alternator in a vehicle that had any chances of being taken on a long trip, I'd go for a major brand, new alternator. I'd also do that if the vehicle were worth over ~$5K, or I hoped to get another decade out of it and planned thousands of miles a year use, or the alternator is very difficult to access.

The thing is, there is a wide gulf between $60 junk and $400 OEM. The OEM didn't make the alternator, so I'd at least seek the alternator manufacturer brand rather than pay the OEM markup on the same thing.

Older vehicles where the alternator is easy to access, I've used rebuilt but only if they have a lifetime warranty. For that matter there are also new alternators with lifetime warranty for some vehicles.

Back to the original topic issue, if the vehicle is consistently exhibiting these problems, then you should look at the alternator to see if the pulley is seized or wobbling, and check voltage of course.

If the problem is reproducible, make sure the battery is charged, take the belt off, and run the engine from COLD for a few minutes at most to see if the problem goes away once there are no belt driven components. Also while the belt is off, spin the alternator and other pulleys by hand and check for wobble to see if any are bad.

Once you're done, put belt back on or you may be as well off getting a new belt if a pulley was wearing it, since you have to install "some" belt back on anyway, and check battery voltage as you may need to recharge it again, better to go ahead and do that rather than leaving the battery sit in a discharged state.

 

[mindless1]

I'd also consider how much (how little) an '03 Ford Focus is worth, that it's had a good run and might start to nickel and dime you for more than it's worth, particularly if you have to pay a mechanic to do work instead of DIY.

Paying a mechanic to put an alternator in, plus a new set of tires, could just about total what the vehicle is worth. Depends on the area, some places, anything with low rust that still runs can fetch $1K if there's nothing wrong with the title. Other places, it'd be worth little more than a junkyard would pay for scrap value.

I'm not suggesting to trash it, as I do like keeping vehicles running, but at some point it may not be cost effective if you don't DIY the work.

 

[Torn Mind]

Fords suck, for one. By design, the message is clear that it's time to brick your vehicle so they can make money by selling you another one. Planned obsolescence via crappy metallurgy.

As you can tell by the vehicle, they don't want DIYers to just be able to replace the alternator, unlike Toyota, where it is readily accessible with their 4-bangers with no need to get underneath the car.

Since the smoking occurred with the A/C on, it is like your A/C compressor is not quite right.

Make sure your battery condition is also good. A weakening battery causes more amperes to flow in order to compsenate, that then damages the windings.

There are three viable options for longevity with the major electrical motors of a car. One is brand new from anywhere and the other is OEM label (Motorcraft for Fords) remanufatured. Or AcDelco Professional. The thing is that if the mechanic is using Advance Auto Parts as his supplier, you are screwed. I believe that mechanics do not warranty labor that involves parts they do not source. So a shady one can break something else while in your car after replacing the alternator.

Bad ground could be a longshot problem...hope your battery cables show no corrosion.

 

[mindless1]

^ You might be making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Toyota makes better vehicles, but having to get under it to move the tensioner doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. Something has to be put on the bottom to allow other things on the top, and space is crowded in econoboxes.

It was cheap to buy and has now lasted near 18 years. I would hate to be stuck with something that small for 18 years, so more of a curse than a blessing that it lasted that long (lol), but that is not at all a bad lifespan for that type of vehicle and the parts are plentiful and inexpensive if you don't buy OEM.

I'd add Denso to the list of electrical parts options, they are usually great quality, though anything remanufactured can be a lottery.

I agree about Advance Auto, once upon a time ago I used to buy a fair amount of parts there, but only because they practically always had a $40 off $100 coupon floating around. Today that's not as common so the price is nearly the same at Autozone and Autozone throws a lifetime warranty on for far more parts. The thing is, most of those parts can be bought online for a lower cost, enough lower that it is clear you are paying a premium for the warranty, but it still makes sense to me if you have the right set of conditions, like you have an Autozone close by, or you need a loaner tool they have or need the part immediately, or if the part isn't that hard to replace.

I don't think a part is hard to replace if A1Auto can cover it in a 14 minute video, even if you have to jack the car up. There are so many things that need the vehicle jacked up, that owning a jack and accepting working under a car is just part of the territory. Heh, no matter how great Toyotas are, you're getting under the vehicle to replace the exhaust for example, they don't have magical metal that won't rust out after 18 years of salted winter roads.

 

[funboy6942]

Well if the belt has come loose, but not all the way, it will not spin the alt properly at idle, for the pulley is slipping, and can be the cause of that burning smell as well.