Just had a strange thing happen on the way into work this morning. Both the Brake and Battery dash lights are on!! Car seems to run ok. When I got to work, I turned off the car, tried starting it and it had trouble starting. I've searched this forum, but not getting the correct hits. Would appreciate any ideas, thanks.

Joe

 

Your alternator is done.

 

Also, if you're still at work, i hope you have a way to charge or replace your battery. It sounds like its in the stage where it only has about 5 minutes of battery power running the car. If that. Could be wrong, but its better to be safe than sorry. Being stuck on the side of the road doesn't sound like fun to me. When mine went out i was stuck in a parking lot.


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If my alternator really did go, how come my dash lights didn't dim or radio go out? I also had the A/C on and didn't notice a difference. When I first noticed the Brake and Battery dash lights on, I was more than 5 minutes away from work.

 

On a full battery, you have an hour or so on driving. Just depends on what all you have running. When mine went out, it was pouring down rain, so i had my lights on, wipers going, and sounds system in my car was blasting for the first few minutes. It ran for about 30 minutes. i parked it and started it back up a few times too. But when it became hard to start, it had 5-10 minutes. Once you lose power and sounds like the engine is missing, you have about 10 useless seconds before the car wont start back up.


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Brake and Battery lights on = Alternator going out

Had you searched, you wouldve found countless threads on this subject

 

Yes, I did search. Searched on brake and battery dash lights. Didn't get the right hits.

 

Ahhhh crap........ Thanks for the heads up. It would have to be raining today.

 

 

Could also just be your serpentine belt blew off. Mine did once after I flew through a massive puddle. That would cause your alternator to no longer spin and charge the battery. $40 belt and about 45 mins of my time. I ended up needing to replace the crank pulley since it was separating. $90 ebay pulley. If your belt did fly off I'd take a peek at that pulley make sure it's not wobbling at all

 

He said he was still running his A/C, so it's not the belt. A/C compressor is spun off the serpentine belt as well.


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Trust us when we say your alternator is done...

 

It's always the alternator when you see the brake and the battery lights. It's the truth. My family's max just crapped on me and it had the same lights on the dashboards before the car stalled out. I bought a new battery and alternator. The battery was bought because the alternator destroyed it with it's negitive charge.

 

Mine was doing similar things and it was the alternator, just finished installing a new one last night.

 

Alternator. It has been discussed on here many times.