Need Some Help Please

[Maxwell117]

Hi, I have a 95 Ford Explorer, I bought recently a year ago, I used it a couple times but then I bought a Chrysler 300 and so I started to drive that instead. One of my friends didn't have a car at the time, so I let them use mine. After about a week of letting them use it, I get a call from them saying that the car is not starting, an she had someone look at it, they said the fuel pump was bad, and needed to be replaced, and they were gonna take care of it and were just letting me know. Anyways long story short, they procrastinated an left it there, til it was about to get towed away, an so I had to go up there an try it. Sure enough, it wont start, open up the hood, an no battery, so put battery in an still no start. Try bypassing pump an trying starter fluid in the air thing, sorry not sure the technical name for it, but the one that connects to the filter, plus anyone who doesnt know, probably cant help me anyways, but so it starts an dies, so after last effort an almost giving up, I heard a trick from a couple of people an some who are have more knowledge about cars an myself, about hitting the tank with a hammer. Amazingly an sure enough, it started right up. So I start to drive it back an I notice the battery light is on, and the windows won't roll down, radio won't turn on, an it feels like I have less power when I press the gas, so clearly I feel there is a problem with the battery. So I go to Wal-Mart, and buy a new battery. A little bit later, and still the battery light on, and other same issues. So I decide to go to AutoZone an have them test my battery and even my alternator. They tell me the battery is putting out to low of a voltage to test the alternator. I told them that's impossible it a brand new battery, so they say the alternator is bad, so I go to pull apart an get a different one, and put it in, and it fires right up. Afterwards I go back down to AutoZone an have them test the new alternator, they tell me the same thing, battery is too low of a voltage, so now Im thinking Wal-Mart just sold me a half charged battery, so I take advantage of their battery charging service, leave it there for an hour or so, come back an have them test it again. This time they say the battery is fully charged, (which I would hope so lol) but still my alternator is bad. So Im wondering if again I should switch out the alternator out again?? Also I was do some research about this issue later and it said something about the belt being loose can cause this, I only say that because after I did put the alternator in again, the belt does squeak a little bit and it didn't before, so I think I need to "adjust it" a little, but it still spins, and it's on there, I just didn't have enough hands to hold the alternator in place an the tensioner, and then try and turn the rachet all the same time, to completely tighten it at the tensioner but could that really make that much of a difference, I mean obviously like I said it could use some adjusting but as long as it spins and the broth isn't coning off it should still work right. Also what are the chances that both alternators are bad. I have heard of testing them with a multimeter an was watching videos earlier on how to test them, but I dont have a multimeter, though apparently they aren't every expensive and sound like a good tool to have so I might just end up getting one anyways.

Also upon further research, an a couple other forum posts I read something about a 175 amp fuse an that this could cause these problems, I was wondering if anyone could tell me where this is located at. I do know where my fuses are, however none of them have any descriptions on them.

Anyways as you can see I have some issues, and any ideas anyone has would be much appreciated and helpful.

Sorry I dont know much about cars, I usually pay a mechanic but Im trying to save money and I am pretty good at taking things apart and putting them back together. I have heard on the average it takes somewhere around 2 hours to take out an replace an alternator but I did mine is less then half an hour, so I'd like to think Im somewhat capable and mechanically inclined lol. Thanks for reading this.

 

[J_C]

I see a couple things wrong.

1) Your topic title doesn't tell what the topic is about.

2) Huge wall of text. Needs condensed and formatted.

As far as your 3 multiple choice options, you can use a multimeter to measure the fuse. You can do a continuity or resistance check on both fuse contacts. You can measure the voltage the alternator is putting out just before the fuse. You can measure the output just after the fuse. You can measure the voltage at the battery when the engine is running which should be around 14.4V or slowly rising in that direction if the battery is low.

Belt, if it's sitting there idling and not slipping then it's not likely the problem. Belt slipping could happen at higher RPM and eventually be a charging problem but you're not that far along yet.

You stated you went to autozone to have them test the alternator but you did not state whether they tested it, just that they stated the battery was too low. Did they or didn't they test the alternator? You take it out of the vehicle and they hook it up to their test machine. This is not an on-vehicle test.

When the vehicle won't start, the crucial elements are whether it is cranking good (or else there's no point in starter fluid), and what the battery voltage is. You should check the voltage ahead of time with a multimeter then hook it up and see how low it dips from trying to start. Ahead of time it should be near 12.6V. After only a couple tries to start, should still be pretty close to that 12.6V.

Alternator, hard to say, I wouldn't get one from a junkyard unless you rebuild it first. Otherwise you're probably putting in an alternator about as old as the one that failed.

As I initially pointed out this topic would be easier to follow if you condense the information to just the details of the events related to testing.

 

[Turdle]

Not positive on fuse number but one of them protects the alternator. Check the fuses in the power distribution box under the hood. Might be fuse 16

 

[MrQ]

I had this issue before. It wound up being the 175 amp fuse in the power distribution box. The fuse wasn't bad per se, but the bolt on connections were so badly corroded that it was sucking up all my amperage trying to get past the resistance. I removed it, cleaned the terminals and the screws and put it back in. Has worked ever since.