Alternator problem?

[juno]

my ride has been acting up lately, i noticed that when i drive during night time when the lights are on, my battery is discharging. the lights in the panel gauges dims as well as the horns sounds out of tune. i had it checked and was advised that the alternator was the problem being not able to handle the load and not giving enough charge to the battery causing the power drain.

my alternator btw is 60 amps and i have a headlight that is fitted with 90/100watts bulb. i never had these problems before, with this setup, until lately.

How much is the going rate for the repairs of the alternators, and what are usually the problems or items that needs replacement/repairs with this kind of problem/symptoms? hope i could get some ideas as i dont want to end up being ripped off by some electrical shop attendants or something.

thanks.

[garyq]

go to another electrical shop and have them diagnose the problem again. check first if the battery is ok then have them check the alternator. you can look at the meter naman if it's charging pa o hindi na. kung alternator sira then depende kung stator or yung ic regulator. kung surplus lang be ready to shell out around 3K. Ano ba ride mo?

[afrasay]

also check the groundings and terminal connections of the battery. kung alternator yan your ALT or BAT light in your dashboard should lit up.

[juno]

uhhm... the battery is ok. in fact two weeks old pa lang ito. motolite maintenance free na battery. yeah... i saw the meter they used when testing. pumapalo sa negative 30 (-30) yung amps kapag bukas yung mga lights. talo talaga.

i am thinking if it is really the alternator at fault (showing obvious symptoms), or, meron grounded sa wiring ko, causing the power drain. can a grounded wiring cause the same symptoms ba?

[jasonub]

alternator problem try this. trurn on your engine. while idling pull out the negative battery terminal. pag namatay. sira alternator mo. another way is to get a scredriver and start engine. rev a little and dikit mo ang screwdriver head sa alternator sa may harap. careful it might catch on the belt. pag dumikit, ok pa yan. pag ayaw ma magnetize then sira na. another problem may be the voltage regulator. some models have it inside the alternator some outside. good luck

[chick-boy]

ganyan din problema ko dati... nung nagpalit ako 90A alternator my problem was solved sir :D

[jasonub]

juno if talo ang charging you need a higher amperage alt

[OTEP]

Do the test as per jasonub. That's a pretty easy way of diagnosing it.

On my rig, it was caused by a loose belt. Although I was a bit surprised because the belt did not make any noise.

[juno]

thanks for your responses. i had it checked in another shop, and still came up with the same diagnosis. i ended up getting a surplus alternator.
good thing the wirings are not grounded as i have thought causing the discharge... otherwise, mas masakit sa ulo maghanap kung san nanggagaling yung grounding.

thanks again to all who responded.

[gbd]

sir, how much nagastos nyo palit ng surplus na alternator? thanks