The brake lite and batt lite came on this morning but the car drives normally otherwise. took it to meinke to get it checked out they said the batterys okay but the atlternator is bad. they wanted 400+ to replace. My normal mechanic is across town from me (11 miles) and I'm afraid of the car conking on me on the way there.

I'm thinking about getting the part and paying for labor tomorrow. my question is how much longer can the car go before it conks?

best guesstimation

 

I've been told you can go a few hours on a fully charged battery, but I wouldn't rely on that much. And don't know how low your battery is. If you have a charger, put it on overnight and you should have plenty of juice to drive across town tomorrow.

 

Are you located in Jersey? If so I can help you out. Changing the alternator is one of the EASIEST tasks you can do by yourself with pretty basic tools....Unless your bolts are rusted smh

 

Well. Speaking from experience. I drove for about 30 mins on just battery. And that killed it enough that it wouldn't start after

 

Mine went out on me a year ago. It went through starting and turning off 4 times, and driving it for an hour as well before it quit. But it was a major PITA to change. It took over 8 hours to change it out and get everything running again. And ever since it has made a whistling sound. So I wouldn't get a TYC if I were you. $400 is kind of ridiculous. An alternator only costs around $150, so if you can, its worth doing the work yourself.


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And to add to the time thing, I was listening to music with subs going with it. Granted, it was a new battery.


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thanx for the offer but I'm in philly

 

thats what I looking for.. so far its been 4 off and ons and two short trips (dropping of my mother and mieneke) I don't mind paying for the labor I just want to keep costs reasonable.

Tomorrow I'm looking at 2 starts (one to get to the parts store and one to get to the mechanic) and the trip across town. hopefully itll go smooth.

 

You can drive for quite awhile on just battery if you reduce other electrical use to a minimun. No lights, no radio, no fan, etc. Across town during the day should be fine. If you put it on a battery charger in between, like overnight, you can "refill" the battery and go farther. As pointed out earlier, this is a fairly easy DIY job - maybe a 4 on a 1-10 scale - as long as the bolts, etc aren't too rusted up. I have not done it myself, but I believe that I have read that most people unbolt (but not diconnect) the AC compressor to provide a little more room to work. Go ahead and replace the accessory belt while the alternator is being replaced. Good luck.

 

Wasn't there a recall on 98 alternators?
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