Q: My car has possible alternator problems
Hi there, I'll cut right to the chase. I was driving for about 20-30 minutes on the highway when I noticed that the battery light turned on. Moments later, the lights in my dashboard and digital clock started dimming. They dimmed significantly when I turn on the headlights. Eventually, all the lights would dim till they turned off. I turned into a Fred Meyer parking lot and turned it off and to my surprise, when I tried to turn the car back on, the lights were charged up. the next day I replaced the battery because I thought the battery light was pretty much the diagnosis. This has never happened before and am wondering if this could be a possible alternator connection issue or if I need to replace the alternator all together.
Thank you!
My car has 182000 miles.
My car has a manual transmission.
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Replacing the battery was a good first move, but it may not be the end of your problems. The alternator may not be charging up to it’s capacity. You might not notice a problem for a while with a new battery, because the battery will pick up the slack as long as you’re not driving for a long time with all the accessories going. But it will catch up to you and at an inconvenient time. You need to have the charging system load tested to make sure it’s performing up to it’s designed level. You can have that done at your home or office by contacting Your Mechanic. They can send you a technician to check out your charging system and advise you on what to do next.
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