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Author Topic: alternator (related)  (Read 1872 times)

dandyann

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    • 91 capri xr2
alternator (related)
« on: November 17, 2017, 05:41:18 PM »

i have a 91 xr2. i think the alternator has gone. it had a bad belt, so i had that replaced right before giving the car to my daughter. within 200 miles, the voltage dropped. she took it somewhere that said it was the alternator and encouraged her not to take the car on her road trip. i think i read somewhere that if you keep driving it when the alternator is failing you can mess up the water pump and thus the head gasket/heads.   idk if it overheated when the alternator went out. i just looked at the coolant, and it was definitely low, but didn't look that dirty considering that it probably hasn't been flushed in years. so, my question is, is there an easy way to tell if the waterpump and/or head (gasket) has been damaged before i invest in changing the alternator? also, are there other things i should check that would make it seem like the alternator is gone, but the actual problem is something else. before i had the belt changed, the voltage would regularly drop to under 14, but when i think the alternator died, the voltage continued to drop. i think the battery just wasn't getting any juice at all, and she just drove it until the battery was almost completely dead. thanks for your help.
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greywolf27030

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    • 1991 XR2, 1992 XR2, 1993 XR2
Re: alternator (related)
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2017, 11:23:12 AM »

The alternator going bad won't affect anything except the battery going dead.  You may be referring to losing an alternator belt.  The would cause overheating as it also turns the water pump.  Overheating can cause water pump(rare) and head problems(blown gasket, warped head), even blown radiator hose.

Jack Byrd
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Jack Byrd

Rocketman

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    • 91 BPT AWD Capri & 1991 XR2
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Re: alternator (related)
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2017, 11:29:35 PM »

Just want to corroborate with Jack's post. It's only if the whole belt has broken, and continuing to drive that will cause overheating problems. The belt drives both the alternator and the water pump.
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1.8L Turbo All Wheel Drive Capri... the "GTXR2"