Charging help needed

[dhewie]

Hi, I found this forum a little while ago, and it looks great. I now have a problem I need help with on my 2000 Mountaineer. Friday I left the key in the ignition with it turned forward to put down the windows when I was cleaning, and I forgot to remove the key. I remembered it about seven hours later with a dead battery. I couldn't jump it, and I had planned to replace the battery, so I just got a new one. It started fine, but the voltage meter is just above the L. As I was trying to charge it, the horn started honking. And I later found after replacing the battery, that the radio fuse blew. I had the battery checked, and they said it was fine. I also replaced the negative battery cable because it was a bit corroded, and the weld nut popped off so I couldn't tighten the nut. The battery is back in, and it still is near the "L" mark. My voltmeter shows it right around 12 V when running, and near 12.5 when shut off. With the lights on not running it's around 12.2. I found a great post from a few years ago with some steps to use, and I did most of them and things checked out. A couple I did find that didn't pass assuming I did it correctly: I checked all the fuses in the distribution box and they were fine except the alternator fuse and the EGR, etc fuse were nearly zero. I also checked the voltage at the post of the alternator where the wire goes to the distribution box, and the voltage was again nearly zero. According the post made (I believe it was OperaHouse or something who posted the information) if the voltage is nothing at the alternator the fusible link is blown. Where would I find this to check it? Any other advice before I replace the alternator? Thanks

 

[Rottie]

You could always remove the alternator and take it to Advance or AutoZone and they can test it for you for free.