Date: 14 Jul 2003 14:26:56 GMT From: davehinznopsamcop.net Subject: Re: 1989 Saab Turbo -Alternator???
Someone who looks an awful lot like Red Raschke <jlaubensteinnopsamail.com> wrote: > 1st time poster to the group, any help would be appreciated. Welcome - most of us are usually friendly. (snip) > It took the charge and started, and I let it run for about 30 > minutes. The next day I went to start it and it was dead again. The > battery is less than a year old. I have never had alternator problems > before, but all signs point to this. Can I be sure that it is the > alternator, I don't think so, just yet. Before going there, you should see if it's a case of not charging (as your alternator theory suggests), or if it's a case of a "parasitic load" - basically, something not turning off when it should. There are a number of non-switched circuits (ones that don't get powered off when you remove the key), most notably the power antenna mast motor and the electric seat belts (if your car is so infested). I've had problems with both of them, in my '88 900T. Take a look at the car - is there anything that normally will move when the car is off, that isn't working just right? mouse-belts getting stuck almost all the way to where they should be, or antenna mast not going fully up? If either of these is trying to get to the end of travel, but is never getting to the switch telling it to stop, the motor can sometimes just keep running. Another approach, if you have a multimeter, is to measure voltage across the fuses in the fuseblock - when the car is off, there should be no current runnign through them, and no voltage across them. We're talking millivolts in the first place, as the resistance of a fuse is pretty low, but other than a few like the radio and others that would make sense, they should all be zero. Some of the better battery shops will do a charging system test, although I was once told by a tech at Batteries Plus that I had a bad voltage regulator, when in fact it was a parasitic load causing the symptoms. Not sure how / what told him that, but it wasn't correct. Hope this helps - before you start dumping money on the alternator, let's make sure it's not something else, or something that caused the alternator to go bad. Dave Hinz P.S. If this is a 900, and you do end up doing the alternator, you'll soon be asking about the mounting bolt and how to get it out (it's too long to come out easily; the head is on the wrong end). Get another before you start, and use a hacksaw to aid in removal of the old one. Put the new one in "backwards" relative to it's current position. and if so, how much can I expect to pay ($US) for a new one? > Can they be replaced by a novice mechanic (me)? Any feedback appreciated. > Thanks, > Joel > Madison, WI, USA --
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