2000 intrigue

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reekinghavoc

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hi guys just got this car a couple of months ago and having some issues.
First, ill say what i have done:
new starter, battery, water pump, and thermostat.

the water pump and thermostat seemed to fix my overheating problem along with the bleeding procedure, but the day after doing that the battery light was coming on during my drive home from work, its a 45 min drive so i turned everything off and once i pulled safely in the driveway i turned everything on to see if i was running off the battery and if it would kill it. I turned on the bright lights, radio, and heat. my dash lights dimmed and my car stalled and wouldnt start. it killed the battery. i charged it overnight, started it and the battery light was intermittenly on and off so i figured it was the alternator going out. i found one at a junkyard with only 35k on it so i got that drastically cheaper than a new one. had that tested at autozone just to be sure and it passed twice. i put it on and after 2 min it locked up and snapped my serpentine belt. so just for the heck of it today i took the old one up to autozone and it passed twice as well. any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.


btw the car has 165k on it and any other advice or anything i should be looking forward to doing in the future could help too.

thank you
kyle
 
Just out of curiosity do you have a stock radio or do you have a system?

For the people that do always know how much juice it will take up. So double the battery and always add a cap, they save your alternators.
 
check the plug& wires going to the alt I found that bad on mine soldered a new plug no problems since then
 
i have an aftermarket stereo but no speakers/amps. i will check it out though and thanks for the info about the plugs and wires.
 
The AutoZone machines aren't trust worthy enough to only test alternators 2x, it's more like 10x+. I can't tell you how many people bought batteries after having an alternator pass just to have to replace the alternator later because it was actually the root of the problem.
 
isn't there a way to check with a multimeter if there is juice going into the battery?
 
The battery light in the dash is in fact THE charge indicator. While engine is running when there is charge current going into the battery the light is out, when there is no charge current it turns on.

Perhaps the wiring has problem after the starter and the water pump work? perhaps the belt tensioner isn't working?

I'd get a re-manufactured unit if I had to replace an alternator.
 
Spookiest experience I had in my Intrigue was seeing the CHARGE light, followed by the A/C shutting off, then the headlights, dash lights, as the computer stuggled to find current to continue operating. I was on the side of the road within 5 more miles.

That happened about 9 months after getting an aftermarket alternator. Fortunately it was under warranty and the GoodYear where it had been installed warranteed me, and replaced it with an OEM one.
 
Coming from an Autozone employee, you cannot always trust the testers. As already stated, they're not powerful enough to create a full simulation.

If you do go to buy an alternator, your best bet would be buying a new or reman AC Delco / Delphi if possible - anything made otherwise is cheap garbage.

Did you put a new belt on when you did all of the work? This could be a partial contributor...

And did you have Autozone test the alternator when it was installed on the car? In my experience, testing the alternator while in the car gives more clear results than while standing alone... Autozone also does this for free btw.
 
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