The alternator is one of the most important elements of the car, in case of its failure the vehicle will be immobilized. All car alternator problems require participation of the specialist. If it is not fixed in time, the car owner will face expensive repair. To detect damage to the alternator, you should know the signs of a breakdown.
What is the alternator operation principle?
The alternator converts mechanical energy coming from the vehicle motor into electrical energy. Almost all models of modern cars have alternators.
The alternator serves as a source of constant battery charging when the engine is on. If the alternator breaks, respectively, the battery will soon lose the electric charge. The alternator feeds the car battery and all electrical appliances. If the rear window heating and headlights are on, the current consumption will be more than the alternator can offer. When this happens, the load falls on the battery and it begins to discharge.
What are the car alternator problems?
There are two types of alternator damage: mechanical or electrical. The former is a failure of fasteners, bearings. The latter is a winding rupture, diode bridge defects. Weak headlights, difficulties when starting the engine, a sensor signal: all these symptoms signalize of problems with the alternator. The alternator is the main source for power supply. The battery serves as an auxiliary source for generation of electrical energy. Its resources are used when starting the engine, powering electronic systems.
Failure of the alternator is obvious, it does not occur unexpectedly. If the driver is attentive, he will have time to minimize troubles.
Why is it difficult to start the engine sometimes?
One of the bad alternator symptoms is an uncertain start of the motor. If the alternator is broken, the battery does not receive the required charge. Often the discharge of the battery is the cause of the alternator failure. The battery can either get less charge or over charge. If the voltage regulator breaks, the alternator gives more current than necessary, and this leads to damage of the battery. In new models of cars there is an option when the motor does not start, if the voltage is below 12 V.
Why do headlights start to flicker?
Dim headlights, changing brightness, flickering: these are signs of alternator failure, it means that an emergency diagnostics of the alternator is required. The alternator can not cope with heavy loads and requires tools to check it to identify the sources of failure and test the unit after the repair. The test bench MS002 COM is intended for diagnostics of the main performance characteristics of the vehicle electrical units. It will fix car alternator problems easily and will help to detect alternator failure causes.
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Why is the indicator lightened?
The lightened battery indicator means that there are serious troubles: the battery is partially charged. This is how the computer system gives a warning to the driver. After receiving such a signal, the car can move until the battery is completely discharged. Under these circumstances much depends on the general condition of the battery and on how many consumers of electricity are involved at the moment. If a similar situation arises, you need to turn off all devices (music, lights, electric heating, ventilation) and go to the nearest service center.
Why does the car alternator drive belt whistle?
There can be several reasons for an unpleasant whistle from under the hood of an unheated car. For example, whistling occurs when the drive belt is not tightly tensioned. If you do not eliminate the loose tension, the alternator will not charge the battery properly. In many models of cars the belt is tensioned automatically and it is as well responsible for operation of the power steering pump and the air conditioning compressor. Low-cost car models do not have such an option and the belt will stretch, then manual adjustment is required.
Why does the belt overheat and destroy?
A sign of wedging the alternator and bypass rollers is the appearance of smoke and pungent odor from the drive belt; delamination of rubber elements may occur. A broken drive belt may cause the generator to go off completely and cause large-scale malfunctions of other systems. Ragged patches, falling under the timing belt lead to a failure of the valve timing and engine malfunction. When the belt overheats or collapses, it is required to test the alternator pulley, it is obliged to move freely and not warp when loaded.
Why does a ringing and rustling occur under the hood?
The bearings at the generator are constantly subjected to high general and temperature loads. Over time, their life will expire, the elements wear out, lubrication is erased, which leads to the appearance of noise, distortions and wedging of the rotor, the fracture of bearings. The source of the origin of such noise can be called the deterioration of the overrunning or damper clutch. The clutch has a short service life and deforms quickly. Both of these failures are easily fixed after diagnosis.
Why an electric drone occurs?
An electric hum will occur if a stator winding closes. Such a breakdown is manifested by electric sounds. Such noise can be heard from the electric engines of urban trolley buses.
Before leaving in sparsely populated, remote areas, you need to make sure that the generator is fully functional. If a problem appears on the road, it will be difficult to solve it without a special tool, spare parts and experience in eliminating such a breakdown. Once in 100 000 km of run, it is necessary to remove the generator for repair, to make troubleshooting.
Our diagnostic equipment will help to quickly and accurately test the operation of the generator set, to identify and eliminate the problem. Stands for diagnostics have a wide range of models, differ in purpose and cost, therefore they are suitable for large and small service stations.
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