alternator problems!!!

[dcookxploder]

alright heres the story yesterday my explorer was fine alt and bat in great working shape. now today i left the house to get a soda down the road and when i left my battery meter showed excellent. when i got back home i noticed my battery meter was about half of where it was when i left. now my battery barly starts it. i did a altonator check by leaving my explorer running and then taking off the + battery cable and it instantly dies. theres supposevly a in line altonator fuse that could go bad and it won't charge the battery if so wheres it at? i checked everything else like belt tension and made sure the alt was spinning with the belt to make sure it wasn't slipping. everything was good i have no idea. thanks for your help.

 

[rileyrs]

never test your alternator like that! very risky.
remove the alternator, and the battery, and take them to napa, advance auto, autozone, somewhere like that and get them tested. its free.

also buy a battery cable, and terminal wire cleaner, and clean the hell out of them.

 

[dcookxploder]

alright i went to autozone today and they tested it and it was only putting 1 amp out. i think its a 95 amp alt. but now when i drive it, sometimes it may show great battery voltage and then in about 2 minitues later it would show about half voltage. help

 

[2000StreetRod]

time to buy an alternator

alright i went to autozone today and they tested it and it was only putting 1 amp out. i think its a 95 amp alt. but now when i drive it, sometimes it may show great battery voltage and then in about 2 minitues later it would show about half voltage. help

It sounds like you need a new alternator unless you don't trust AutoZone. It could be an intermittent heat related failure in the voltage regulator or a mechanical internal intermittent connection. I doubt that its repairable and if it is it would probably cost more to repair it than if you bought a new one.