skabaru

how long can a car drive with no alternator?

atleast 20 miles, since when I started my car up leaving a meeting last night, mine wasn't doing anything... I drove home watching my voltmeter SLOWLY drop down past 12... it actually was probably 11.7 by the time I got home...

I guess I should be happy I got that optima battery?

I was losing my alternator at gingerman (track in MI) when we were there 2 weekends ago, but only above like 5000 rpm... above 5, it would run off the battery (voltmeter dropped to 12) and as soon as the RPMs would drop lower, battery light off, voltmeter back to 14...

so it looks like it is alternator time. Someone suggested I check the ground on the motor... I checked all the lines at the battery, solid and clean. where is the motor ground?

I was told the amperage of the unit is listed on the back. that is hard to see. I am going to try to find a rewound unit that is a bit higher in amperage. why not? I like electronics.

anyone have any alternator experience with their audi?

Solaris

only experience I have is with changing one out on my 1.8T

por911

There is a couple. Is you car 4 or 6cyl? There is a ground strap at the back of the motor, attaches to the firewall and one by the motor mount. I doubt its one of these, unless you've recently done major work in there or motor mounts are bad. Usually, the ground circuts in the wiring harnesses are pretty decent(unlike 80/90 VW's).

RKA

check the tensioner. It's wierd that the voltage dropped off at high rpms. Could also be a flaky regulator which still requires replacing the alternator.

skabaru

How would I determine if it is or isn't?

skabaru

I understood the grounds on the engine to be good, so I wasn't thinking that it was the solution either.

someone suggested the ground on the alternator. I will be checking this all out this weekend...

RKA

than there should be...replace the tensioner.

Greg PAW - MS

I have a spare one off y parts car if you want. Never experienced any failures on my 4 audis

Ray Calvo

In both cases they failed in a manner where no on-dash warning lights came on. Didn't get a hint the alternator was dead till the car wouldn't start (actually, the Porsche died as I was driving home and turned the lights on at dusk; drain was too great for the tired battery).

Mileage was over 50K on both cars when the alternator died.

On the Austin as I remember it was more the built-in voltage regulator that died. I replaced this and the car was back in business again. Might want to check into this; problem is trying to find some wiring diagrams, tests, and readings applicable to the Audi alternator/voltage regulator.

skabaru

nope, that is the first thing I checked, tension on the belt is good and tight.