Late Night After Work Car Problems
 

Son of a bitch…

Finished work tonight, and on the 4 mile drive home, the battery light goes on, then the RPM’s seem to behave a bit strangely, the radio starts to say **** it I’m out, the airbag light goes on, the ABS light goes on, the headlights dim, and I park the car at the house, and the driver’s side window won’t go up. Pull the keys, put the keys back in to try to get the window down, and now it works.

Car has been running like a top with barely any problems ever. Alternator was checked a few months ago and was fine. Battery is only about 16 months old. Was going to get the timing belt changed in a few weeks when the next service is due. Just got back from driving back and forth to KC and now this? What the hell man?

Hallelujah, and holy shit. Where’s the Tylenol?

Sounds like your alternator shit the bed.

About a $60 job if you can do it yourself (less if you go refurbished). Double that if you take it to a mechanic.

*If I'm correct

Late Night After Work Car Problems. As opposed to cold winter mornings when it's absolutely shitty weather (cold, snowing..spitting rain and constant 30-40mph wind). And you really need your car. Cars always seem to know when to pick the absolute worst time to break down. Anyway there's no good time for a car to go belly up. They all suck.

Also, if it is your alternator you drained your battery and the replacement alternator won't be able to fully charge the battery back to 100%. You'll need to hook the battery up to a charger for a couple hours to get it back to full capacity.

I think AutoZone does this for free or if you have a steady mechanic I'm sure he'll hook you up if you don't own a charger.

Good luck!

Carshield mother****er!

Taking away the ashtray screwed up the funksway

Bigfoot moves in mysterious ways..

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Crank sensor?

I’m probably wrong, but if so, easily and cheap fix.

He's from Independence, they shut those off otherwise they'd be going off all the time.

Lmao

I would start with a thorough evaluation of your blinker fluid (often overlooked maintenance item). If that seems okay, make sure your antifreeze still tastes sweet. A quart or two ought to do it.

Does anyone have a stream?

It probably has something to do with the shitty ass cd player phone holder you installed

Gremlins... hate 'em.

He didn't replace the CD player. He is fine with his 8 Track

Lot of good advice here….

But after a good night of sleep and a moment of deep thought, I think I’ve got it figured out.

You guessed it:


Frank Stallone

Yeah it's the alternator. Classic alternator failure symptoms.

ROFL

Bro, when's the last time you had to buy an alternator?

Prestone or Quaker State?

Maybe he went to a self pull junkyard?

Hmmm...maybe. That seems like a bad idea. How long until that pulled alternator goes bad?

I self pull all the time, and it’s never cost me no 60 bucks.

Sounds like the alternator. Year, make, and model of the vehicle??

LOL. You're living in 1984 my friend

Yep, it sounds like your alternator might have gone T.U.

Same here. Hell, I self-pulled first thing this morning. Didn't cost me a penny.

I had a 1/2 ton GMC Sierra Vortex Max. At 50,000 miles it started doing weird stuff.
Tach would go from zero to pegged. Speedo would do the same thing. Flashers would blink radio would turn off and back on. Door locks would lock and unlock. The last time it did it I recorded it (driving thru Eisenhower Tunnel). Took it to my mechanic that same day. Showed him the recording. They had the truck for 3 weeks. Could not duplicate or find any issues. Mechanic jokingly said your truck might be possessed. One (other) hypothesis was that the mag chloride used on the roads was eating at the electrical connections. I got rid of it and bought a Durmax Diesel.

That is definitely the alternator. Same things happened to me driving down main once. Car coasted to a stop at Union Station and I had to leave it there.

Well, 600 bucks later, I’ve got a new alternator and all is right in the world. Gonna self pull and take a nap.

****ing money pits man. I'm taking mine in to get the brakes looked at and it needs the A/C fixed.

Before you go too crazy replacing stuff, try cleaning the battery posts and connectors with a wirebrush

Nevermind

It doesn't matter because it's all ball bearings these days!

Yeah, little on the low side with that estimate. Just multiply everything by 2 and you'll be in the ballpark.

Sweet jesus, it cost HOW much?!?!?!

An alternator swap - especially if you have a top mount - is a 20 minute job. I shit you not.

And on a reasonably modern car, you can just get on O'reilly's website and enter year/make/model and it'll just tell you what to buy.

Yikes bro. That's stout.

I'd have figured $150 in parts if you do it yourself; $200 tops (go ahead and replace the belt while you're at it).

Hour worth of labor if you have the mechanic do it. I figured $100-$150/hr with a 1 hour minimum for a reasonable shop rate and you're looking at $250-$350 tops.

$600 seems brutal unless he has a car that's just a bitch to get to the alternator.

Got a Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit diesel which until now had never given me any problems. Drove home from work last week, seemed to be running fine as always, turned it off in my garage and heard coolant bubbling. Looked at the gauge and it was fairly hot. Checked underneath the coolant reservoir and saw OIL dripping out pretty badly. Oil cooler malfunctioned and sent oil throughout my entire cooling system. Needed new oil cooler, thermostat, o-ring, all rubber hoses in the coolant system needed to be replaced, and needed a new radiator because oil had settled, coagulated and couldn't be flushed out. Total financial damage? $9,166.78. Warranty expired 5k miles ago. New President of OUCHtown - JohnnyHammersticks.

I remember putting an alternator I bought at a parts store into a 1998 Pontiac Transport. This was about 20 years ago. And even then it was about 3 times what you're saying. It was imported from France so maybe that was part of it. I just couldn't believe how expensive they had become.

Had to have my 2011 Kia AC compressor replaced. He did the serpentine belt while he was at it. All told it was $1150. I knew it was going to be expensive going in but that still sucks.

For the record, there's nothing in the world easier than changing a serpentine belt (and why I do it anytime anything else needs working on).

You probably have a simple spring tensioner with a slot for a 3/8 inch ratchet (I use a breaker bar; not everyone has one).

Just draw a little diagram with big and little circles representing the respective wheels (roughly where they would be on the motor) then draw your belt in - over, under, over, under - done.

Take the tension off, remove the belt, remove the tension again, put the new one on in the same way your little diagram shows and you're done.

If you're really paranoid (I always am) take a couple pictures just as a double-check of your diagram.

Serpentine belts are super easy and the number of people you hear driving around with worn belts makes no sense to me. Fellas, if that thing lets go it's not exactly a disaster like a timing belt failing, but it ain't a lot of fun trying to limp that thing home without that belt and if you're extremely unlucky it can wrap around stuff after it breaks and wreak all sorts of havoc.

I agree to a point... The issue with a lot of vehicles with the transverse mounted engine is that the components are really difficult to get to if you don't have a lift and the belt tensioner is shoehorned in where you might need a special tool and really small hands to get the new belt in place. They really don't seem to have put a lot of thought into repairs.

Brakes are usually fairly easy, most people neglect replacing the brake fluid every few years. It's hydroscopic and will cause severe damage to the components if allowed to remain in the system too long. Most shops will do this for a pretty minimal fee. I usually do it when I get my vehicles inspected.

Yeah, sounds like the alternator or voltage regulator on the original vehicle.

Agreed, that's pretty steep for an alternator swap. I would have guessed $300 on the high end.


Yikes!

I just priced some alternators for my 2023 Tacoma on Amazon and the average was about $115 dollars (napkin math). I would have swapped it out myself however.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=2023+taco...ref=nb_sb_noss

AAA

I've done this before when the car wouldn't start. And it fixed it right up.

But the symptoms he's describing were definitely the alternator.

Glad you got it figured out. I’m not sure what self pull means but does the $600 include the alternator and labor?

I replaced mine about a year ago and was surprised how easy the job was. I am not a hands-on, mechanically-inclined guy and I was able to do it in about an hour solely on the strength of YouTube DIY vids.

Yeah, $600 sounds a little pricey, but after looking things up online, it's pretty much par for the course. If I wasn't exhausted, I probably would've taken the time to do it myself, but even labor wasn't bad, only about a hundo, so for the total to come out to $600 after parts, labor and taxes, I don't feel like I got bent over. It's a small town, so I'm thankful they had the parts local, and it was done in a timely manner without having to hassle with renting a car or any of that horseshit. Just glad it's done, and not something more serious.

Otter says you were taken to the cleaners.

Cool. Jimmy crack corn...

Hey now, I didn't see the invoice for the repair. I simply speculated only the cost of an alternator swap based largely on my own circumstances.

There could have been other factors such as fluid leaks, electrical issues, towing and access as well as removal of other components to complete the repair just to name a few.

Speak for yourself, bucko.

You were bamboozled!

On top post batteries, I use those little red/black pads plus some grease on the posts. No corrosion. I've also heard that when you check your oil, go ahead and drip some oil from the dipstick on the posts to prevent corrosion.

Also, most OEM batteries are terrible. I replaced the one in my Honda and almost hurt myself taking it out. I was prepared to lift a heavy object and the thing was super light.

You just don't know your fix it strength Kirk

Go hit a Walmart light pole and call insurance Jesus **** that

Well shit…

Late night problems are now early afternoon problems.

On my way to go to the DMV and get my new Kansas license, and I start the car, it fires up, then putters down…. I start it up again, and once again it putters down, but now I smell gas.

Hop out, and sure enough, there’s a small gas leak coming from near the gas tank.

And of course it’s small town Kansas at nearly 2pm on a Friday, so I know I’m screwed. Get a tow to the service center, but they’re down two men and can’t get to it until tomorrow morning. No loaners and no rentals available. Sweet tap dancing Christ…

It’s only 95 out. It’s only two miles home. I’ll walk. Made it home, soaking wet, and now I have a weird pain in my left calf, it’s probably fine.

So I got someone to cover my shift at work tonight and someone to standby to cover me tomorrow. And now I’m going to get ****ing drunk. Momma said there’d be days like this…