98 concord charging system problems
#1
04-30-2013, 02:00 PM
98 concord charging system problems
1998 Concord 3.2 engine. Problem - a month ago battery would not hold charge, replaced battery all good with everything working fine.
A week ago Battery Light on dash lit up. Wife drove it home.
I checked voltage at Battery and was at 7 volts and dropping.
I check output at alternator and couldn't get a reading but later figured out I had the meter on 20 volt range instead of 200 and output from alternator was higher than 20 which is why I could not get reading. duh!
Took out alternator (Convinced all Concord design engineers are Sadistic bastards) and it tested good at parts store but was not spinning as nice as new one so I put in new one (car has 185K so I figured why not $90 now).
Put in new belts as well. Battery was charged up.
Started car and it ran for 3 or 4 minutes fine with no Bat light but after I measured only 12 V at battery then the bat light came on. Turned on lights, fan and wipers and bat dropped to 11 V and heading south obviously not charging. I measured voltage at alternator and it is 35 Volts! yikes.
So now what - Fusable link is what I am reading is one possibility - can't even find it yet. As a way of testing fusable link could I run an 8 gage wire from the Altinator to the positive battery connector up in the engine compartment and check for 13.5 to 18 volts at bat (charging) and similar Voltage at alternator?
Any help would be appreciated.
A week ago Battery Light on dash lit up. Wife drove it home.
I checked voltage at Battery and was at 7 volts and dropping.
I check output at alternator and couldn't get a reading but later figured out I had the meter on 20 volt range instead of 200 and output from alternator was higher than 20 which is why I could not get reading. duh!
Took out alternator (Convinced all Concord design engineers are Sadistic bastards) and it tested good at parts store but was not spinning as nice as new one so I put in new one (car has 185K so I figured why not $90 now).
Put in new belts as well. Battery was charged up.
Started car and it ran for 3 or 4 minutes fine with no Bat light but after I measured only 12 V at battery then the bat light came on. Turned on lights, fan and wipers and bat dropped to 11 V and heading south obviously not charging. I measured voltage at alternator and it is 35 Volts! yikes.
So now what - Fusable link is what I am reading is one possibility - can't even find it yet. As a way of testing fusable link could I run an 8 gage wire from the Altinator to the positive battery connector up in the engine compartment and check for 13.5 to 18 volts at bat (charging) and similar Voltage at alternator?
Any help would be appreciated.
#2
05-03-2013, 01:37 AM
Problem fixed , bad fusable link
As it turns out when I put in the new battery a month ago I moved the posititive cable enough start the deterioration of the 10 Gage fusable link coming off the the battery to the altenator. Soldered in a new wire for $0.60 and all voltages normal and charging.
Bummer I spend a day and $90 on a new altenator but with 185,000 on the car i suppose it is not the worst investment. I did put on new belts that were needed.
Bummer I spend a day and $90 on a new altenator but with 185,000 on the car i suppose it is not the worst investment. I did put on new belts that were needed.
#3
11-11-2017, 03:28 PM
Similar discrepency.....03 concorde,3.5l. Changed batt 2.5 months ago. Batt lite on now. Alternator voltage 11.5. 4 alternators later still output voltage, read at batt terminals, 11.5. Any help is appreciated.
#8
08-13-2019, 10:03 PM
98 chrysler concorde where is the alternator fuse on my 98 chrysler concorde
1998 Concord 3.2 engine. Problem - a month ago battery would not hold charge, replaced battery all good with everything working fine.
A week ago Battery Light on dash lit up. Wife drove it home.
I checked voltage at Battery and was at 7 volts and dropping.
I check output at alternator and couldn't get a reading but later figured out I had the meter on 20 volt range instead of 200 and output from alternator was higher than 20 which is why I could not get reading. duh!
Took out alternator (Convinced all Concord design engineers are Sadistic bastards) and it tested good at parts store but was not spinning as nice as new one so I put in new one (car has 185K so I figured why not $90 now).
Put in new belts as well. Battery was charged up.
Started car and it ran for 3 or 4 minutes fine with no Bat light but after I measured only 12 V at battery then the bat light came on. Turned on lights, fan and wipers and bat dropped to 11 V and heading south obviously not charging. I measured voltage at alternator and it is 35 Volts! yikes.
So now what - Fusable link is what I am reading is one possibility - can't even find it yet. As a way of testing fusable link could I run an 8 gage wire from the Altinator to the positive battery connector up in the engine compartment and check for 13.5 to 18 volts at bat (charging) and similar Voltage at alternator?
Any help would be appreciated.
A week ago Battery Light on dash lit up. Wife drove it home.
I checked voltage at Battery and was at 7 volts and dropping.
I check output at alternator and couldn't get a reading but later figured out I had the meter on 20 volt range instead of 200 and output from alternator was higher than 20 which is why I could not get reading. duh!
Took out alternator (Convinced all Concord design engineers are Sadistic bastards) and it tested good at parts store but was not spinning as nice as new one so I put in new one (car has 185K so I figured why not $90 now).
Put in new belts as well. Battery was charged up.
Started car and it ran for 3 or 4 minutes fine with no Bat light but after I measured only 12 V at battery then the bat light came on. Turned on lights, fan and wipers and bat dropped to 11 V and heading south obviously not charging. I measured voltage at alternator and it is 35 Volts! yikes.
So now what - Fusable link is what I am reading is one possibility - can't even find it yet. As a way of testing fusable link could I run an 8 gage wire from the Altinator to the positive battery connector up in the engine compartment and check for 13.5 to 18 volts at bat (charging) and similar Voltage at alternator?
Any help would be appreciated.
#9
09-23-2019, 04:27 PM
Same problem; more info. I bought a 98 Concorde 3.2L a few months ago with 183K miles from a friend. Unfortunately, he had gotten it from his father-in-law who didn't have maintenance records.
A couple weeks ago, the battery light came on while driving. I managed to get back home, started researching, and found this page.
I located the battery under the air filter box, in front of the right front wheel, but I wasn't able get to it, so I used the battery jump points to measure voltage. With the engine off the battery voltage was 12.1; while running it was 11.6. I checked the fuses that have been mentioned here and they are fine. After some more looking around, I found the fusible link cable dangling loose above the battery. Hmm...
Not being in a position to be able to get the parts and do the work myself, I took it to a shop that has worked with on other cars for me.
Our thought process was:
The fusible link needs to be replaced, but the question is, What caused it to melt so completely?
They pulled up the wiring diagram and found that the fusible link is connected directly to the alternator.
So we concluded that the output from the alternator was way too high, and if it melted the fusible link once, it would probably do it again .. possibly soon. We figured that the voltage regulator had failed so it's time to replace the alternator. Well, drat, but OK. It looked like I was stuck, so I had them do that, too.
The next question was: what about the battery? How old is it? What kind of shape is it in? Will it make it thru the coming winter months? Would it last another day or week? I kind of assumed that it was bad, because every time I tried to start the car, the battery seemed a bit weak.
They had to charge the battery up in order to test it. And yes, it turned out that my suspicions were correct. The test showed that out of 750 CCA the battery was down to 450. So drat! It was time to replace the battery too.
I think each decision was correct, but it sure got to be expensive.
A couple weeks ago, the battery light came on while driving. I managed to get back home, started researching, and found this page.
I located the battery under the air filter box, in front of the right front wheel, but I wasn't able get to it, so I used the battery jump points to measure voltage. With the engine off the battery voltage was 12.1; while running it was 11.6. I checked the fuses that have been mentioned here and they are fine. After some more looking around, I found the fusible link cable dangling loose above the battery. Hmm...
Not being in a position to be able to get the parts and do the work myself, I took it to a shop that has worked with on other cars for me.
Our thought process was:
The fusible link needs to be replaced, but the question is, What caused it to melt so completely?
They pulled up the wiring diagram and found that the fusible link is connected directly to the alternator.
So we concluded that the output from the alternator was way too high, and if it melted the fusible link once, it would probably do it again .. possibly soon. We figured that the voltage regulator had failed so it's time to replace the alternator. Well, drat, but OK. It looked like I was stuck, so I had them do that, too.
The next question was: what about the battery? How old is it? What kind of shape is it in? Will it make it thru the coming winter months? Would it last another day or week? I kind of assumed that it was bad, because every time I tried to start the car, the battery seemed a bit weak.
They had to charge the battery up in order to test it. And yes, it turned out that my suspicions were correct. The test showed that out of 750 CCA the battery was down to 450. So drat! It was time to replace the battery too.
I think each decision was correct, but it sure got to be expensive.
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