Problem Confirmation?

[billr99]

Guys:

I think I know what I need to do but I need a second confirmation look to make sure I have this one right.

'02 XC with 360K kms on it. Driving it out of civilization into the bush of central Nova Scotia this afternoon, everything normal, when I get a lurch, the speedo drops to zero, and I get a alternator light on and a "high voltage" warning on the display. I also loose the ability to indicate a manual shift capability. Fuel, water temp and tach normal operation. I figure I've lost the original alternator or at least the regulator, also original. Decide I'd better turn around and head back to civilization to a friend's house who has tools and a safe place to park until I get needed bits next week. On the way back (20 kms out at most), I get hard shift, a yellow warning triangle, a "low battery" warning, SRS, ABS, traction control lights all come on, but the speedo comes back all the while fuel, water temp and tach remain operational. Once at my friend's house, battery (5 year old Optima) is nearly flat but everything under the hood looks good and normal. No smoke, no electrical smell, all mechanical bits in their normal operational positions. In other words, no busted belts, disintegrating pulleys, etc.

So as I mentioned I'm figuring that the regulator is gone or the brushes in the alternator have shorted due to wear. All other symptoms are due to out-of-range voltage. Does this all sound about right?

I'm now 80 miles away trying to figure out what to order to sort this as well. Forgot to note what size alternator is stock on an '02 before I left it but I'm thinking that it is a 120A. All the on-line parts outfits seem to indicate that. Might go for a 140. Both require a UAP which I have a nearly new one one the car now so that can at least be saved if necessary.

Any road, just looking for some confirmation and/or guidance here as I need to take all the right bits with me when I go next week to fix this thing and get it home. Too far to drive and too much in the middle of nowhere to get it wrong.

Thanks in advance,

Bill

[JRL]

Sounds like it

[9dawgs]

Sounds like it

X2, although I've never experienced this on my XC I've had similar experiences on a few vehicles I've owned in the past. When the alternator craps out the electrical things tend to go whacky.

[billr99]

Thanks, guys. I figured it was but considering the hassle of this particular situation, I wanted to make sure. Now I just need to find a source that can get me an alternator in reasonable time. The hassles of living on the edge of auto civilization. Nobody has anything in stock so has to be shipped in. Even for half the VW, Toyota and domestic stuff. Interestingly though Subaru and Hyundai do a bit better according to my son who has his own varied fleet.

Thanks again,

Bill

[coflynn]

Hi Bill,

If it's remotely useful - I had some notes on replacing the regulator on my car at http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=51058 . I bought the replacement regulator from IPD, paying ~$100 shipping to get it overnighted as nobody had it locally. So I also had poor luck in that regard!

If you need to move the car - you can also disconnect the alternator easily. One of the heavy leads to the positive terminal in the front of the car by the fuse block is from the alternator. I've got a photo of myself doing that in the previous link.

The diode bridge isn't part of the voltage regulator, so replacing the entire thing instead of just the voltage regulator is reasonable too, since that is more or less guaranteed to catch the problem.

Good Luck!

-Colin

[billr99]

Thanks, Colin, for the suggestions. But I think considering how many miles are on that alternator I may as well replace the whole thing. The bearings were starting to sing a bit on a wet morning anyway. I can't check the local sources (NAPA, CarQuest, etc.) until Monday but CT Bridgewater at least has a listing. I just need them to check if they can get it down from the City (1 day) or Montreal (6 day - what?). Amazingly they are the cheapest overall at this point when you consider the core and its return cost; but if its going to take a bit, I'll probably just do AutoPartsWay and get it in a day or two and deal with the $160 core later. Might also give Covey's a call. They've come thru in past on some stuff.

Thanks again,

Bill

[engywookiethewagon]

I had this same experience with My '02 V70XC ( I think at 170k miles). When the alternator died the "High voltage" warning came up it burnt out my front headlights). crawling home the "low battery" warning arose and My 3yr old battery was depleted. I replaced bulbs/alternator/battery/left headlight fuse. A week after replacing the alternator one of my drive belt tensioners/pulleys gave out while I was on a twisty road (still wondering how I managed to get through it with no power steering). changed the drive belt and tensioner and the car was good to go!