Car will roll start, everything works then dies after 1-2 minutes.
 

Alright, let me tell the story: Was driving home from work about 3 months ago and the car lugged, dash lights went nuts, and a small bit of white-ish smoke came in through the air vents. I did a visual and nothing seemed wrong, but from that point on the e-brake and battery lights would turn on when the car would dip into low RPMs.

I took the car to Advanced Auto and they put a battery tester on it, told me the battery was fine and that the alternator was messed. I drove on it until this weekend when, on Friday, the alternator completely gave out and I limped the car to work on no working guages. I get the new alternator in and everything seems okay. It roll started just fine, no problems, I drove it for about 3-4 minutes and parked it, went to work. On the way to work everything in the car dimmed and the guages went dead. The clock was dimmed out, etc.

After work I had to roll start the car again, and after 1-2 minutes misfiring, lugging, and then it eventually just cut out. I rolled it to a nearby house and had it jumped. It took forever to get enough juice into the battery to even start the damn thing, then the same thing 1-2 minutes and it died. I ended up having to have my friend tow me home with his 96 jetta. low point in life for sure. wink.gif

I'm taking the car battery into AutoZone to get it tested/replaced if necessary in the morning, but I have 2 questions.

This was my first alternator install, and when I was re-attaching the (I believe) ground terminal to the battery, the terminal on the replacement alt was different than stock, so the terminal is between two brass/gold-plated nuts, instead of all the way down on the terminal. is this a problem?

And secondly, the plug that attaches to the alternator have bare wires showing, and in an attempt to remove it and put electrical tape around them, it looks like a pulled/frayed one of them a little. I can't find this part online and have no idea what it's properly called. I am handy with electronics and wiring, and could easily recut, strip, crimp, and solder that connection again, but it seems like it's still connected-if it isn't would that be a cause for dead car despite the shiny new alternator?

Thanks for sitting through the whole post, and I appreciate any help you can give.

Sincerely,
B. from NC

I think you have the wrong altenator.

fix the wiring first if its the wiring i think it is, then its not getting a proper signal from the computer

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Regit @ Aug 22 2010, 11:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I think you have the wrong altenator.</div>

It's a Duralast that I got from AutoZone for my make/model.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (faithofadragon @ Aug 22 2010, 11:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>fix the wiring first if its the wiring i think it is, then its not getting a proper signal from the computer</div>

the dongle/connector wiring? or the placement of the ground terminal (if that's what that terminal is)?

if its not the alternator i would suspect fuel system since it switches from open loop to closed loop after a few minutes. but before you begin throwing parts at it i would recheck the alternator and if possible reinstall all the original parts. you dont want to introduce to many new parts into the system, 1 bad from stock or slightly incorrect part (which is common with aftermarket electronics) will give you a trouble shooting nightmare.
-also you never mentioned a cel?

First fix any suspect wires. Then give the alternator a quick test with a multimeter, to see if it's putting out a charging voltage or not. It is possible you killed the battery by drawing it to too low of a voltage, then killed the new alternator trying to start on a dead battery.

Connectors: As long as you have the right parts, don't have any excessive voltage drops, and everything is mechanically secure, connector differences might not matter too much.

Went and had the battery tested this morning and it was DEAD.

Tossed it in the car and drove off to work, which went smooth. After work I took the car to AutoZone and had them test the battery/alternator and it said <30A on the tester, which could be anything from nothing to 29A. i just got home, and I'm letting the car cool, then I'm gonna fix the wiring. and make sure it's not that.

Looks like another 5am morning for me (don't wanna stick my hand into a hot engine). FML.

dude sounds like the alternator isnt charging the battery at all. every time you started it, its either been running on the residual charge the battery built up or the jump start you got. may have to bit the bullet and get another alternator that fits your car properly from a wreckers yard or similar. maybe pics would help everyone see what the problem is with the wiring?

A bad battery constantly requiring charge puts quite a heavy load on the alternator. You may need a new alternator after that. When running the car, it should have a bare minimum of 13V. My car runs at 13.5. When my battery is dead, the car runs at 14.6-15.5V. This is normal. Make sure you have the proper voltage to charge the battery after you do the repair on the wiring.

I really appreciate all the help I've received here. I'm going to pull the wiring tonight and resplice it. I'm fairly sure that all that's happening is the belt is spinning it and there's nowhere for the juice to go.