Alternator draining battery @ 200ma rate normal ?

Good day all, I have a Mazda 323, 1994, A/T, 1.6L engine and have some electrical problems.
The battery is getting drained to 10-11V over a period of 4 days, which cause the car not to restart. I tracked down the current drain with the Amp meter to be the 12V lead going to the alternator. (The charge cable from the alternator going to the battery via the MAIN 60A FUSE) I have bypass the cable with another cable and still get the same problem. (Ampmeter in serie gives 200ma drain [0.2A] )This alternator was newly purchased 2 months ago as a "rebuilt"
alternator from a shop. I have brought it back to the store. They plugged it on their machine and said it's fine. Does 200ma current drain through the charge circuit/port of the
alternator is considered "normal" ? (All other circuits are unplugged)

Thanks in advance!


The cable wouldnt cause extra drain, unless there were a short to ground. O.2 amperes would indicate a resistance of about 700 ohms, so it is not a dead short. You have a leaky diode in the alternator. You might also consider carrying a battery jump starter in your trunck. If your battery goes out, you can at least jump start your car and make it home. Then you can charge your drained battery with a car battery charger and your back in business.

Tired of tripping over air hoses!

Do you have any advice about the best way to store air hoses for my air tools? I have a small auto repair shop and I use my impact wrench and other air tools everyday. My big problem is tripping over the 50 ft air hose that runs from my air compressor. It has become a serious safety hazard in my shop. Any suggestions will be helpful.

Thanks.


Great question and it is a common problem in auto shops and garages. The easiest and most cost effective solution is to purchase and install an air hose reel. This product will automatically wind up excess air hose and keep it out of the way. When some extra slack ,just pull on the hose and the air hose reel will extend more hose for you. You can mount it right on the wall next to your air compressor and tool chest.

1999 Grand Am lug nut problem

My wife has a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am which needs to have the tires rotated. The wheel lugs were torqued on pretty tight but my 200 pounds on the lug wrench managed to loosen them but unfortunately I cannot say the same for the aluminum wheels. They are on so tight that I cannot budge them. Any suggestions as to how to loosen them for removal would be appreciated.

Thanks.

The solution to your problem is an impact wrench. This is what air tools were designed to do. A good 1/2" impact wrench to start with is and Ingersoll Rand IR2135Ti or Ingersoll Rand IR231. Impact wrenches will make quick work of a stubborn lug nut. The impact motion of the air tool literally hammers the nut loose. You can try using a cheater bar on a lug wrench, but a good impact wrench will save some bloody knuckles.

Muffler is hanging off!!

My muffler and part of my exaust pipe is hanging from the bottom of my car. I need to cut it off and replace it. However I don't own a cutting torch and I would be nervous about using heat by the gas tank anyway. Do you have a good suggestion for easily cutting it off?

Thanks for any help.


Bummer about the muffler problems. I am sure your neighbors love you when you crank your car up in the driveway. One idea is to use a Milwaukee Sawzall with metal blade. The Sawzall will make quick work of the pipe.

Floor jack question

Hi,

Would this work alright on a Chevy Caprice? I need to take the tension off my front sway bar, so I can replace one of the endlinks. I thought I would use jackstands right behind the tire-changing jack points on the frame. I would jack up one side, place a floor jack right behind the jack connection, lower the car onto the jackstand, then do the same for the other side. Is this where jack stands normally get placed? Would that be stable?

Thanks

Thanks for your great question.

I would not put the floor jack where the car jack goes. My car is a front wheel drive unibody (no frame). I put the jack stands under the box reinforcement on the body, the thing that looks like a frame. It supports the front end okay and has not bent the metal at all. They are plenty far enough apart to provide wide stable support. Before getting under the car grab it and give it a good shake to make sure it's stablle. One thing I learned about floor jack stands. Some are too big to fit under small cars. I bought the first pair second hand and found they were too big.

Battery recharging question

Assuming an electrically sound Alternator and Battery about how much driving/runtime is needed to recharge what is drawn/lost to start the car? Alternatively ….how long will the car need to be run to recharge the battery to where it was before the car was started? I know this is not easy to answer becuase it depends on so much but just ballpark estimate here would be fine..ie is
it 1 or 5 minutes at idle etc· Let's also assume that the car starts in about 2 or less seconds…
hence no starting problems or extended turnover times just to keep this simple·

Thanks

you can simply buy a battery tester at Red Hill Supply and read the voltage with all of the lights, radio, heater and other turned on. If the voltage still holds 14+_.5V, that's a pretty good load test for the alternator. He can check the battery voltage to see if it's holding 12.6V when the engine is off. A fluke meter is not a substitute for knowledge, but I'd like to have on anyway.

Air Conditioner Problem

After enjoying my Dodge Custom Van for several years, suddenly the air conditioner packed it in
I haven't had time to check it out yet, but maybe those with considerable experience can serve
as a sounding board. The compressor comes on for about 2-3 seconds, then cycles off. Constantly. Holding my hand on the lines to and from the compressor, I feel neither cool nor heat. Would low refrigerant charge cause this? I have been afraid it might be high head pressure, but would appreciate any comments. I am ready to sell this unit, and get something more in keeping with my
ancienité. Just need a little validation.

Thanks for the email and the great question. It sounds like your air condtioning system has lost its refrigerant. You may try charging it with a little freon and then using a refrigerant leak detector, sniff around for a leak. If it is something obvious, like a loose hose, you can fix it yourself. Then recharge the system.