The lude board i use sucks

but anyway

worked on lude yesterday and changed the low pressure power steering lines and everything went great - power washed the engine bay afterwards to clean up any spilled PS fluid - car was fine last night after the wash (maybe a little hestitant at low speeds)

this morning on the way into work driving fine and all of a sudden i notice the battery light and brake light on (they are on but very dim) and when i click the e-brake it lights up fully and the battery light goes off - made it to work so i am pretty sure the alternator is fine

also the speedometer stopped working however the tach works fine

any idea what may cause this?? a wet alternator / bad fuse?? (i'm guessing it's just cause it's wet)

Thanks!

 

Were the lights all working after you left my house?

 

yup!! everything worked fine until this morning

i did have a heavy load on the alt this morning ie stereo, heat, wipers, rear window defrost just before the idiot lights came on

i suspect that either the alt is wet (from the power wash last night & rain today) or it's just time for a new one BUT i'm not too sure why the car would drive fine to the office if it wasn't charging the battery

 

I'm not mechanically inclined. So, I can't offer a solution. However, I would like to say that I would never use a power washer on my engine. Simply because things like this often occur.

 

Thanks for the advise!!! where's that smily - - - - here it is

 

Steve, I have two or three thoughts.

First, the engine wash might have doen something, but who knows what? I think we would need the test equipment to find out.

Second, the engine will run off the battery if the alternator is not charging until the battery dies, or until its charge drops to a point that it cannot satisfy the requirements fot he car's electronics. Certain minimum values are needed to run fuel injection, etc and even though the starter may crank the engine, it will not stop without a reasonably full charge.

Third, I would drive it under minimal elecrical load to make sure everything is dried out.

Fourth, as I noted yesterday, you did get PS fluid on the alternator and the alternator drive belt (and most of my house). I know that lubricants on accessory belts is not a good idea. I'm guessing that libricants poured into the vent openings of alternators is not a good idea either. It could be that under heavy electrical load there is enough lube on the belt to let is slip a bit, but that is just a WAG.

If drying it out doesn't help and if something has actually gone wrong, I would use the test equipment to see if the alternator is charging. If it charges at rest, but suddenly stops at high electrical load, that might tell you something.

Or you could just stop by the house tonight and we can start removing stuff and looking at it.

 

Get a can of WD40 and hose down the electrical connections.

Check the ground too.

 

Thanks Guys!!!

wd-40 = great idea - i'll grab some at luch time to try and dry out the stuff - weird that everything worked fine last night - but again it was under a heavy load this morning and not last night-

Bill would the car make it to Franklin from my home with just the battery??

i'll put a meter on the battery and see what the alt if feeding it ie 14v

worse comes to worse - i'll get a new alt this Friday and take the day off

 

Clean your battery connections too. You can quickly check the alternator by disconnecting the battery while the car is running. If it dies, then your alternator is suspect.

 

That used to be a good test, but it isn't as useful as it used to be. Some cars will die at a certain rpm even if everything is working properly. Also, other cars may suffer damage from a battery disconnect while the car is running. I'm not sure where Steve's car fits into this.

The WD 40 is a good idea, but do not spray it on the alternator belt.

Steve the car would easily get to Franklin on just the battery.