Back story....

I'm at 104,000 miles and I have recently blown my original alternator. I bought a replacement, installed it and everything looked fine. I thought I had the battery charged up but It may have had a light on in the car and run the battery could have been run down. I'm not sure??? I turned it over and everything was fine until about 10 minutes later while I was test driving it and then my battery light came on again and same problem with the alternator not charging again.

I sent the alternator back and they said the regulator blew and they are sending me another one tomorrow. I also took my battery in to be tested and it passed with flying colors, just to make sure that wasn't the culprit.

My question is did the regulator on the alternator blow because they battery might have not been charged or is there another problem I should be diagnosing before I go and start it back up again?

thanks,
lowell

 

I know that a bad battery can smoke an alternator and I believe that a really low one could cause damage as well...beyond that I'm not sure. Regardless, I think that's it's always prudent to have the battery charged when changing the alternator.

 

yeah i know, i guess in my excitement of having my vehicle back to drive i hurried a bit and it go the best of me when i didn't check the voltage of the battery before i drove it. let my mistake be a lesson for others...

 

Bad or low battery can fry an alternator in some cases. The alternator overheats when trying to charge the battery. Also MAKE SURE THE GROUND BETWEEN THE CHASSIE AND MOTOR IS TIGHT. Got that??? clean the connections!