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Warning Light Mystery

knowone2

Be Gentle I'm New Here
Joined
Mar 12, 2018
Messages
4
Location
United States
Thanks to all who post responses on this forum and thus help others in need. :eek:)

I have a 2000 Ford Contour SE 6 cylinder. It has about 120k miles on it.

In August, 2017 when it was really hot, the car overheated one time. After that, it ran OK, but started leaking a small amount of oil. In early September, the alternator stopped charging, so I had it replaced. The guy who did the work told me that the leaking oil had ruined the alternator. He said that the oil leak was from the valve cover gasket.

I drove the car without fixing the leak, as the estimated cost to replace the valve cover gasket was $200, and the leak was very small. I put cardboard under the car, and the leak spot each time I ran the car was only maybe 2” in diameter. So far, so good.

Then, in about December, I was driving down a busy street, and some Bozo was going really-slow, like he was looking for something, so decided to to go around him, and I punched the gas, which I almost never do.

At that time, there was a short clunk sound, like the engine had lifted up a bit due to a broken motor mount. It has never done this previously. In addition, 2 warning lights lit up on my instrument panel. One was for the battery, and the other for the rear brakes, which were down to the metal. This has never happened before.

The question here is why they suddenly went on under this circumstance? But there’s more.

I drove the car home without incident and parked it. The next morning, the battery was dead, so I carried it to O’Reilly, where I had purchased it, and they charged it. I put it back in the car, and only drove a bit.

The next morning, the battery was dead again, so I carried it back to O’Reilly, and they had to replace it because it was bad. I then drove back up there, and they ran a test on the charging system. Their equipment showed that the alternator was putting out 18 volts, and thus overcharging the battery.

I am aware that the regulator is on the alternator, so that’s a big job to replace on this car. When I had it replaced in September, it took 2 hours for the mobile mechanic to replace it and cost me $180. Some of the mobile mechanics wouldn’t even do it.

Here are my points:
1) Based on my automotive knowledge, it makes no sense for the battery and brakes light to go on under the circumstances in which they did. Possibly if the motor mount is bad, when I hit the gas, the engine raised up and shorted something out.
2) I don’t want to spend another $300 for a rebuilt alternator and the labor, only to find out that this isn’t the cause.

I've been without a car for about 3-4 months now, and it's not easy. I would be most grateful for any advice.

Thanks! :eek:)
 
The symptoms you list are typical of a bad alternator. Many times people get rebuilt alts that show "good" at low rpms, but overcharge at higher rpms. The root of the problem is most likely bad diodes on the rectifier - rebuilders do not inspect/fix those problems, and their bench test methods are at low rpms only.

I had the same problems you have listed (brake light on, check engine, all due to instant overcharging above 2500 rpm = 18 volts). Buy a new alternator only, this fixed my problem last fall... It does not have to be a new Motorcraft, there are other reputable new options out there.
 
Thanks so much for your input! The alternator did work for a while and it likely did get oil on it. Is it true that oil leaked on an alternator will ruin it?
BTW - "blu-fuz" = peace officer? LOL! If so, great sense of humor! :eek:)
 
Engine oil can ruin it, but usually it is power steering fluid that gets all over the alt.

And BluFuz is a username of a guy on here, he is an "old-timer" and knows a thing or two about a thing or two. I am not actually sure what he does for a living?
 
I also had a bad rear valve cover that was leaking oil onto the alt. And when I have doen my alt I bought what ended up being the most expensive but best quality ALT. around 220$. Its worth it to get good parts so you dont have to do the job twice. and blufuz comes from one of his original vehicles, I dont remember if it was a contour but the interior was a blue "fuzz"

if your handy with tool replacing the valve cover gaskets are not that hard and the gaskets themselves are about 50 bucks on rockauot at the max.
 
'I've been without a car for about 3-4 months now...'

Not to be mean at all but if you drive with brakes 'down to the metal' then you NEED to be walking. And with all the typing, not one mention again of fixing those, which are the by far most serious issue in the OP.

Some people have to be sued into bankruptcy for the rest of their lives to figure out what's important I guess. You are part of something bigger than you and 7 billion others out there, you owe it to them to fix your brakes before going back out on the rods to kill somebody. Just in case you do not value your own life enough of course.

Also an overheat with no resolution, I guess we simply wait until the next time car burns to the ground. Why I have so many cars to pick parts off of in the scrapyards.........owner negligence while crying about it all day long. How one has to buy 30 cars in a lifetime instead of maybe 7-8. The death of a 401K or retirement lies there.
 
To somebody else.................$220 does not buy spit for an alternator, the dead crap ones go for that now. Good parts.............a kneeslapper there................I sold them and you don't wanna know.
 
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