Did My Alternator Go Out?

[chewie]

you can still crank the car? i thought you couldnt...

if you can crank the car and it wont start thats a different story..

crank your car for a good ten seconds.. then pull a spark plug to and smell it for gas..

if theres gas you got no spark if theres no gas then you have spark but no gas..

or worst case senario your timing chain broke.

open your oil filler hole on the valve cover and have somone crank your car while you look in there for moving parts.. if the rockers arent moving.. boom timing chain.

[Leon]

Try checking your charge wire from the alternator to the battery. It could be lose or maybe even slowly slipping out of the terminal due to heat.

[kandiman71874]

If it was the alt, 12.9 would start the truck no problem it would just never climb above static battery voltage after it started. Considering it sputtered with low idle right b4 it died the, alt wasnt spinning fast enough to be putting out hardly anything. He also indicated that it would crank but not start after it died. Check for spark and fuel would be a good starting point.

I see chewie and i not only think alike, but type at the same time lol

Edited May 18, 2010 by kandiman71874

[Gingeriffik]

fuel filter??

[chewie]

fuel filter will still allow the car to start momentarily and it will allow the car to idle.. its when you try to drive it will cause it to die..because it cant source enough fuel.

[fox_racin4]

inertia ( sp?) switch happend to a buddys ranger

[chewie]

hmm i wonder if ford trucks have the same thing as ford cars.. if you get rear ended it cuts power to the fuel pump..

in my buddys crown vic everytime the bass hit it would stall his car out and we would have to reset the switch .. so we bypassed it

get your manual out sean

Edited May 18, 2010 by chewie

[fox_racin4]

the rangers is under the dash by glove box IIRC

[chewie]

the reason why i didnt mention this before is cause he said it kinda died slowly.. whereas my buddys vic died instantly.

[fox_racin4]

i forget how my buddys died but.. we ended up pulling the box off and cheaking fuel pump to see if it dies.. and then we thought.. hey... it has an inertia switch.. reset it and it fired right up!