So my truck stalled the other day, I immediately restarted it ok. About 15 minutes later started it up, put it in drive, the engine started bucking, went into failsafe mode, and I shut it off. Left it at my office overnight, and went to check in the next morning - dead as a doornail. I hooked up my jumper box, and there was a loud clicking nouse coming from right around the throttle body.

Towed it to the dealership, they did their check and said the alternator and battery basically died at the same time, and since the truck had no place to pull power from, it stalled...and the lack of power was causing all of the sensors relays to just sit there and click away until it eventually killed the battery.

Does this make any sense, or can anyone provide a better explanation around it? The dealer is putting a new battery and alternator in tonight, and said they would recheck everything tomorrow. How do you know if an alternator is going bad??

 

Is this customer pay?

 

A bad alt. will not put out 12v to charge the battery. Driving with a dead alt. will definately kill an otherwise good battery.

 

except for the fact that alt's put out 14volts if its lower then that you have a alt going bad

 

your alternator failed...that caused your battery to get overworked...sucks, but it happens. Batteries don't really take a complete discharge all that well

my 93 Bronco with E40D transmission did the same thing. I had an old weakened alternator that went out on the drive home. It started pulling from the battery to keep her running. Eventually the battery died about 2 miles from home. The Bronco would run ok, but wouldn't shift gears (computer controlled shifting). Luckily a bud towed me home and I had to replace the alt, and about 1 week later, the battery.

best of luck...I wouldn't think it should cost more than $250-300

 

Dealer wants to charge $680 for a new battery and alternator....that seems high to me.

When I dropped it off they said it was a flat $130 to diagnose the problem - sucks, but OK. So I am not sure if the $680 includes this $130 or not. If not, I think $810 for an appt to tell me I need a new battery and alternator and to replace it is WAY high.

Any recommendations??? Can I bargain them down somehow? I am only 2,000 miles out of warranty and its a bit frustrating that I went through my whole warranty period without a single thing wrong...a month after the warranty is up and BAM - $800 out the door.

 

Get your own battery and aternator, a couple of friends, and a bottle of Jack. Than in the nicest way you can tell the stealer to GET F'd.

 

At this point my truck is dead...it wont move. So I appreciate your suggestion, but at this point, that's not possible. If I knew my alt was going bad I would do that, but now its basically stuck at the dealership.

 

buy a new battery with a replacement plan and tell them to push your truck out front throw the new battery in it and drive it home (if close enough if not run till the battery is almost dead and pull it out and have a buddy follow you so he can take you to get a replacement ) then put the new alt in at home


btw what do you need a bottle jack for?

 

Is there anything I can do with the dealer in terms of cost....I am not opposed to working on my truck (I love it), but to do work on my truck like this requires alot of planning on my part...I live in a condo, there is no space for me to work in my parking garage. Alot of my friends live in similar situations, so the friends I know with houses, live really far away!

So is there anything I can do to get the dealer to bring down the cost, or is it pretty much fixed?

 

No, the dealer probly wont drop on price, but you could do this. If you have a battery charger and a generator you could throw the generator in the back and run the truck of the charger the whole way home. BTW an alternator/battery swap can easily be done in an afternoon. It would probly be cheaper if you had the rig towed to your condo, bought a battery and alternator(and a bottle of Jack) and did it by yourself.

P.S. The bottle of Jack is for the end of the job! If you start the jack too early it could turn into a 2 day project.

 

my dealership charges $90-110 for diagnostics...but then they roll that cost into the repair...so, if the repair is estimated for $500, the $90 or so diagnostic is part of that, not on top of it.

$680 is highway robbery. a new battery is about $100 and then the alternator cannot be more than $200

seem like they're out to get some free $$$ out of ya...sorry, but I don't know of anything you can do to negotiate...it can't hurt to mention you just went out of warranty with 0 issues...see if they'll eat half the repair cost as part of being a good dealership

 

Technically, the alternator puts out more then 14 volts. The regulator maintains 14 volts to prevent overcharging. If the battery is completely fried, you will get less the 14 volts because the alternator is carrying the full electrical load, especially if there are alot of aftermarket accessories such as a big stereo. This will result in the alternator cooking because of the higher then normal load.

 

Speaking from experience, at 56k mi my alt went out. The factory Motorcraft battery "eye" was a very weak green. First thing I did was get a Diehard from Sears at $109 out the door. Wasn't the problem. Priced an alt out at $300 for a Ford replacement, and opted to go with a $120 Autozone lifetime warranty one. Don't do it!!!!!!! Something in them are not right, the engine light will not go out with the aftermarket installed. Huge fiasco, so you're forced to get a Motorcraft alternator for keeping the CEL off. $400+ later, the light is off and she charges fine. My suggestion is let them install the alt and take your own battery up there. Insatll it yourself in the parking lot. That may help a bit on the cost. Some of the alts are junk, dying at early mileage like mine. And some of them are whining pretty bad when cold out.

 

The PCM controls the regulator and is reverse acting control from the IAT. Typical voltages should be between 13-15v.