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1998 Ford Excort Zx2 (Alternator not charging)
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DrVader
New User
Sep 27, 2010, 1:39 PM
Post #1 of 7
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1998 Ford Excort Zx2 (Alternator not charging)
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1998
Ford
Escort Zx2
2.0
I don't know if someone can help me but here is my Electric problem.
1) Alternator broke off recently and we repaired it with a repair kid...took all day.
2) We tested to see if the battery received anything by measuring the tension with and without the engine started
and it seamed to work properly.
3) The problem is that the battery is slowly losing power(1 week of normal use 10Km/day with no lights) until engine stops.
So I basically have to charge it with a machine every 3-4 days to make sure.
4) Tested the Alternator again to make sure it still works and we still have tension in when measuring the + and the - from the battery.
We have a few hypothesis:
a) Rust could cause an over-consummation of electricity.
b) The alternator is not providing enough electricity (is it even possible).
c) The battery (less possible) is dead even though it has 2 years old.
** Right now I am looking at the car's wiring to find if I don't have a problem like this **
Thank you for your time and I am sorry for mistakes in this post... I tried to correct most of them.
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speed
User
Sep 27, 2010, 8:59 PM
Post #2 of 7
(7202 views)
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Re: 1998 Ford Excort Zx2 (Alternator not charging)
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not sure what you mean by measuring tension. but thats besides my point haha. how did you test the battery? the battery if its goo should be around 12.74 volts i believe, to test just tak a multimeter set it to the 20v selection adn touch the negative to the negative terminal and positive to the positive terminal. i think at 12.3 volts the battery is bad im not sure if im correct but i think those are the voltages. to test the alternator keep the multimeter hooked up to the batter and start the car if your reading is less than 13.5 volts your alternator is not charging properly. i tbeleive this is the correct way if not one of the big dogs will step in  good luck with your car come back when you find out more
GM ASEP 26 SCC Milford ASE certified in Brakes and Electrical on Thursday April 5th 2012
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Sidom
Veteran
/ Moderator
Sep 27, 2010, 9:36 PM
Post #3 of 7
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Re: 1998 Ford Excort Zx2 (Alternator not charging)
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If you could post what the voltage at the battery is with the key off, key on, engine running & @2000 would be helpful......
I'm a bit confuse about an alternator "breaking off" and even more confused there is a repair kit for it...........
From what you've posted it, sounds like you may have a draw on the system. A quick check, disconnect the neg bat cable an hook one end of the light to the battery and the other end to the neg cable & see if it lights up....
Also if it's not too much trouble, just try disconnecting the battery at night and hook it back up during the day, if the problem disappears, then you have a parasitic draw on the system.....
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Sep 28, 2010, 1:04 AM
Post #4 of 7
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Re: 1998 Ford Excort Zx2 (Alternator not charging)
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Notes: We need voltages both not running and running.
Battery: The common automotive batteries will die if let run down to nothing and won't recover. I mean absolute nothing. They still don't like running way down and can seriously shorten their life,
T
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DrVader
New User
Sep 28, 2010, 5:49 AM
Post #5 of 7
(7185 views)
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Re: 1998 Ford Excort Zx2 (Alternator not charging)
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Thank you very much for your fast answers.
Measures: I will take these measures again tonight and note them on the post thx.
Alternator repair kit: when we went in store to change it, they said they had repair kits for our brand of car, so we did it ourselves.
Parasitic draw on the system or defect battery sounds possible and I will do the tests tonight too.
(This post was edited by DrVader on Sep 28, 2010, 5:59 AM)
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DrVader
New User
Oct 23, 2010, 10:21 AM
Post #6 of 7
(7146 views)
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Re: 1998 Ford Excort Zx2 (Alternator not charging)
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Testing right now I will let you know all the results, sorry for the crazy delay, had alot of stuff going on.
Here are the results of the tests you suggested:
Voltave
not running: 12.11v
running: 12.00v- 12.11v
Light bulb test between negative battery born, a bulbd and the car's frame.
It is not a parastaic draw since disconnecting at night changed nothing.
So basically, based on these tests and the info you provided me with, the alternator is not working anymore and since the battery is providing 12.11 < 12.74 it could be a problem too...
The strange thing is that when this problem first occured we measured the alternator and it had up to 14.1V (when running) so it either broke during tests (which I doubt) or it was sporadic all along.
Another posibility is that it works well and the voltage provided doesnt always get to the battery due to rust or a bad connection between the alternator and the battery.
(This post was edited by DrVader on Oct 23, 2010, 11:16 AM)
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Sidom
Veteran
/ Moderator
Oct 23, 2010, 5:41 PM
Post #7 of 7
(7140 views)
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Re: 1998 Ford Excort Zx2 (Alternator not charging)
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Well is sounds like you may have a bad alternator..... I'm still not real sure what "broke" before and was repaired but it's possible the repair never "took" or has failed
Running you should have around 14 v. Check the connecters to the alt, If they have power then you are looking at a bad alternator.
The main big single wire should have 12v all the time. I believe that one has a 4 wire connecter. One should have 12v all the time as well and another wire should have 12v when the key is turned on (all 4 wires aren't going to have 12v but 2 should)..... Check them with your test light. If all have power & you have switched power as well then pull the alt and have it bench tested but it will probably be bad.....
If you aren't getting power then post what wires & colors you are getting power on and which ones you aren't and we can go from there....
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