Reasons Behind your Car Alternator is Failing to Charge

In your car, the alternator is used to generate the electricity for the electrical components of your car and responsible for maintaining the battery charge. The alternator of your car is responsible for producing the electrical energy by converting the mechanical energy. Without an alternator, if you want to start your car, then the battery power would not able to produce enough electricity to make your engine running. If your battery is not charged by the alternator, then it will eventually run out the power and stop your car.

So, the alternator is needed to keep your battery recharged and powered the electrical components by passing electrical current throughout them. A lot of people get confused to have the electrical problems in their cars and misdiagnose the issues as being a bad battery versus a bad alternator. If your car is experiencing alternator problems, then go through the several reasons that can affect your alternator to stop working.

Computer showing problems

In most of the new model cars, which is specifically manufactured for few years on those cars the alternator is controlled by the car's computer. These cars have a central computer system that can manage and operates the components of your car and its related parts. If you find that the computer of your car is not functioning properly or have system problems, it may be the reason behind the alternator is failing to charge. Therefore, it would show a computer error, the malfunctioning of the alternator would not be able to charge your battery.

Issues in wiring

There are numerous wiring components are available in your car these wiring mechanisms are used to produce power to the alternator of your car. If the wire is not attached properly or one of the wire is disconnected or cut down, then no power is generated from the alternator. The detached or inadvertently cutting wires is unable to transfer the power to the alternator. When the alternator is not getting enough power, then it cannot turn the belt and pulley mechanism which is responsible for charging the battery and alternatively the battery will not charge.

Blown fuses

The alternators of the specific models of the car depending on a particular type of fuse to operate it. Due to a power surge or simply from old age the fuses of your car can blow. Once this problem arises in your car, the alternator is not working until it is replaced. But all the cars do not have these types of fuses, so you have to check your owner's manual for finding that your car has a fuse or not. The fuse box diagram of your car helps you to determine the fuse status of your car for the alternator. If your car has, you don't need to check your battery for not being charged.

Broken pulley and belt

The alternator of your car charges the battery by generating power with a pulley and a belt system. The belt and pulley can produce the mechanical power that converted into electrical energy by the alternator. The belt of your car can easily break if it gets stretched out too much and snaps apart. If the let control that system snaps, stretches out then the alternator will stop working and the battery failing to charge. The same thing also happens with the pulley, the pulley of your car can also get damaged after a while as well. If the pulley is displaced, damaged or malfunction for any of the reason then the alternator will no longer produce the charge for a battery.

Damaged battery and alternator

The alternator and the batteries of your car do not last forever. They have their own set of lifespan. Generally, a car battery will run for at least 3 to 5 years, but that would fully depend on how often you drive your car and what is the temperature of your living area. Moreover, the batteries of your car can last longer in the colder environment and shorter in the hotter environments. Apart from the batteries, the alternators of your car last about seven years or that would be need changes on every 80,000 miles.

Way to fix them

The bad alternator is the common reason for not charging a battery. You can fix the issues by connecting a voltmeter to your battery for testing the voltage when the engine is off. The normal voltage of the battery is between 12 and 23 volts. If the voltage is low, then you confirm that your car has a battery problem. If the voltage is normal, then start the car and get the engine up to 2,000 RPM. If the voltmeter shows that the voltage is decreasing in this process, then make sure that your car has an alternator problem.

German Auto Specialist provides expert German auto repair in Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Newbury Park for over 23 years. Having ASE certified & factory trained technicians with latest diagnostic tools and equipment.