Super7 Turbocharged July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 Recently my car's aircon is not working properly ie cold for a short while every time I start using the car and then it goes off, no cold air. Last nite, ABS and battery warning lights came on and soon power steering was gone. Horn no sound. Fortunately i reached the workshop and left it outside the main door as it was already 10pm. The engine wouldnt crank when i tried restart it to park closer to the side. This morning WS called me up telling me alternator spoilt. How does alternator affect ABS, Power Steering when it's spoilt? Thank you for your advice. ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siewss 1st Gear July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 From experience, you'll see a lot of warning lights on your dashboard, and if you continue driving the engine will simply shut down. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohto Hypersonic July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 Alternator is like a electrical generator for your car. When it failed, the car don't have electrical supply. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voodooman Supersonic July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 It generates electricity and charges the battery, IIRC. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pisces69 6th Gear July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 Recently my car's aircon is not working properly ie cold for a short while every time I start using the car and then it goes off, no cold air. Last nite, ABS and battery warning lights came on and soon power steering was gone. Horn no sound. Fortunately i reached the workshop and left it outside the main door as it was already 10pm. The engine wouldnt crank when i tried restart it to park closer to the side. This morning WS called me up telling me alternator spoilt. How does alternator affect ABS, Power Steering when it's spoilt? Thank you for your advice. Most systems in yr car need electrical power to work. No elect all wil fail once the battery is drained. Most systems get power from the alternator when car is running. When alternator spoil, once the battery is drained all wil fail. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcf777 Turbocharged July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 From experience, you'll see a lot of warning lights on your dashboard, and if you continue driving the engine will simply shut down. I can vouched for this. I stop at the traffic junction and engine went dead without me know. only realised it when the light turns green and there is zero power to move the car. hv to call for tow-bed truck to send to ws. don't be mistaken, im not driving " the people car" 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lausai88 Hypersonic July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 Recently my car's aircon is not working properly ie cold for a short while every time I start using the car and then it goes off, no cold air. Last nite, ABS and battery warning lights came on and soon power steering was gone. Horn no sound. Fortunately i reached the workshop and left it outside the main door as it was already 10pm. The engine wouldnt crank when i tried restart it to park closer to the side. This morning WS called me up telling me alternator spoilt. How does alternator affect ABS, Power Steering when it's spoilt? Thank you for your advice. Wah you damn tyco. Lucky it reached ws then failed else you need to pay the towing fee. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kb27 Supersonic July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 Recently my car's aircon is not working properly ie cold for a short while every time I start using the car and then it goes off, no cold air. Last nite, ABS and battery warning lights came on and soon power steering was gone. Horn no sound. Fortunately i reached the workshop and left it outside the main door as it was already 10pm. The engine wouldnt crank when i tried restart it to park closer to the side. This morning WS called me up telling me alternator spoilt. How does alternator affect ABS, Power Steering when it's spoilt? Thank you for your advice. When battery warning lights comes up, it's the charging system that is the problem, not the battery. Without the alternator charging the battery and supplying all the electrical loads, the battery is left to supply all the loads. Depending on the size and capacity of the battery, you might have only about one hour of usage, after which everything starts to go haywire and ultimately, engine will stall. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super7 Turbocharged July 1, 2014 Author Share July 1, 2014 Thank you to all bros who have given advice / comments!! [thumbsup] It's really fortunate i could reach the ws without stalling halfway and had to call tow truck service. [sweatdrop] The power steering went off first before the battery light came on (ie battery weak / near kosong) together with ABS light. I would have thought as soon as the alternator is not functioning well there should be a warning light way before other parts are affected, so that the driver could get it checked / fixed asap. I recall it took less than 5 minutes from the time the battery light came on to complete shut down!! Not enough advance warning. Hopefully there's after market sensor etc to give more advance warning of alternator mulfunction (imagine halfway on the NSHW when it fails!!) [sweatdrop] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TVT Supercharged July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 Thank you to all bros who have given advice / comments!! It's really fortunate i could reach the ws without stalling halfway and had to call tow truck service. [ The power steering went off first before the battery light came on (ie battery weak / near kosong) together with ABS light. I would have thought as soon as the alternator is not functioning well there should be a warning light way before other parts are affected, so that the driver could get it checked / fixed asap. I recall it took less than 5 minutes from the time the battery light came on to complete shut down!! Not enough advance warning. Hopefully there's after market sensor etc to give more advance warning of alternator mulfunction (imagine halfway on the NSHW when it fails!!) Wah, this is scary. Yah, imagine in the middle of a Malaysia road trip the alternator fails, jialat man! So you drove to the WS w/o any power steering (harder to turn the wheel)? So roughly what's the damage to your alternator ? Change new one ? But I tot there are some devices (used by battery mechanics) to check the alternator's "health"? Maybe before a road trip, or every few months, we can go to a WS to get it checked ? Would that help ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pisces69 6th Gear July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 Thank you to all bros who have given advice / comments!! [thumbsup] It's really fortunate i could reach the ws without stalling halfway and had to call tow truck service. [sweatdrop] The power steering went off first before the battery light came on (ie battery weak / near kosong) together with ABS light. I would have thought as soon as the alternator is not functioning well there should be a warning light way before other parts are affected, so that the driver could get it checked / fixed asap. I recall it took less than 5 minutes from the time the battery light came on to complete shut down!! Not enough advance warning. Hopefully there's after market sensor etc to give more advance warning of alternator mulfunction (imagine halfway on the NSHW when it fails!!) [sweatdrop] Usually if yr alternator is weak, sud b like elect charging not so good. Can see battery often not fully charged. Also at night can see lights dimmer n horm dying. Usually if alternator weak, the red warning light wil slowly come on at traffic light when engine at idle speed. Sometimes its very dim so daytime might not see it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pisces69 6th Gear July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 (edited) Wah, this is scary. Yah, imagine in the middle of a Malaysia road trip the alternator fails, jialat man! So you drove to the WS w/o any power steering (harder to turn the wheel)? So roughly what's the damage to your alternator ? Change new one ? But I tot there are some devices (used by battery mechanics) to check the alternator's "health"? Maybe before a road trip, or every few months, we can go to a WS to get it checked ? Would that help ? Mostly dun change a NEW alternator cos its damm expensive. Mostly just get those re-con but from a reliable shop. Usually only the bearing n carbon brush wil spoil. Nothing else to spoil. These can b changed n its like new again. Now alternator also have a circuit board to control the charging so if thats gone, then it needs to b replaced too. That a bit difficult. Another alternative is to get a 2nd hand unit from scrap yards. just make sure its in good condition. Edited July 1, 2014 by Pisces69 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TVT Supercharged July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 Usually if yr alternator is weak, sud b like elect charging not so good. Can see battery often not fully charged. Also at night can see lights dimmer n horm dying. Usually if alternator weak, the red warning light wil slowly come on at traffic light when engine at idle speed. Sometimes its very dim so daytime might not see it. So bro Super7 - did you notice these warnings (lights dimmer, etc) as mentioned by bro P69 before your alternator finally broke down? Or were you too distracted at the traffic light cos got chio xmm crossing the road ? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kb27 Supersonic July 2, 2014 Share July 2, 2014 Thank you to all bros who have given advice / comments!! [thumbsup] It's really fortunate i could reach the ws without stalling halfway and had to call tow truck service. [sweatdrop] The power steering went off first before the battery light came on (ie battery weak / near kosong) together with ABS light. I would have thought as soon as the alternator is not functioning well there should be a warning light way before other parts are affected, so that the driver could get it checked / fixed asap. I recall it took less than 5 minutes from the time the battery light came on to complete shut down!! Not enough advance warning. Hopefully there's after market sensor etc to give more advance warning of alternator mulfunction (imagine halfway on the NSHW when it fails!!) [sweatdrop] Does your car have electric or hydraulic power steering ? Electric use the alternator/battery, hydraulic depends on a belt. If hydraulic, belts could have broken or slipped off, and both alternator and power steering would be affected at the same time. ABS should normally not be affected. Some cars "battery light" on the dashboard does not light up even when the alternator fails. I think due to the wiring. Best way is to connect a voltmeter. With engine running, it should always read around 14V. If it suddenly drops to 12V, you would know the alternator konked immediately. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super7 Turbocharged July 2, 2014 Author Share July 2, 2014 So bro Super7 - did you notice these warnings (lights dimmer, etc) as mentioned by bro P69 before your alternator finally broke down? Or were you too distracted at the traffic light cos got chio xmm crossing the road ? I assume the when head lights are dim, i cant even tell the xmm is chio or not as i only drive the car at nite... [sweatdrop] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super7 Turbocharged July 2, 2014 Author Share July 2, 2014 Does your car have electric or hydraulic power steering ? Electric use the alternator/battery, hydraulic depends on a belt. If hydraulic, belts could have broken or slipped off, and both alternator and power steering would be affected at the same time. ABS should normally not be affected. Some cars "battery light" on the dashboard does not light up even when the alternator fails. I think due to the wiring. Best way is to connect a voltmeter. With engine running, it should always read around 14V. If it suddenly drops to 12V, you would know the alternator konked immediately. Talking about voltmeter, i remember an after market plug-in gadget which show the state of charging etc (plug into cig lighter socket), have you used this instead of a proper voltmeter before, is it good? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super7 Turbocharged July 2, 2014 Author Share July 2, 2014 Wah, this is scary. Yah, imagine in the middle of a Malaysia road trip the alternator fails, jialat man! So you drove to the WS w/o any power steering (harder to turn the wheel)? So roughly what's the damage to your alternator ? Change new one ? But I tot there are some devices (used by battery mechanics) to check the alternator's "health"? Maybe before a road trip, or every few months, we can go to a WS to get it checked ? Would that help ? Good idea to borrow ws's device to check the alternator every now and then Tomorrow i will see the bill when i collect the car [sweatdrop] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super7 Turbocharged July 2, 2014 Author Share July 2, 2014 Usually if yr alternator is weak, sud b like elect charging not so good. Can see battery often not fully charged. Also at night can see lights dimmer n horm dying. Usually if alternator weak, the red warning light wil slowly come on at traffic light when engine at idle speed. Sometimes its very dim so daytime might not see it. I think this is the case: didnt notice the dim warning light as when the failure happened it was still daylight, about 5pm ↡ Advertisement 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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