[Jespinoza37]

Hello everyone I am new here.
I have a few questions in regards to my alternator and charging.
I few weeks back my car did not want to start, I had the battery charged at autozone, only to find out that the Alternator was not charging the batter .
I bought a new one and new belt as well, from autozone that had the 180 Bosch alternator. I installed my self and car was running great again. But noticed again that one day I was in the car with the radio on for let’s say 2 hours. The car again did not want to start. Charged the battery again and looks like the alternator is not charging the battery.
The car does start with a jump, but once I remove the jumper cables it’s starts to die and does. Volts when I first installed the Alt were a 14.2 with the car on, and batt. Volts at 13.1-12.4 after the car is off.
Looks like I blew Alt again, but have no idea why?
Any help ?
Thank you in advance

[JUMAS]

What are the chances your battery is old enough to where it still holds a charge but discharges quickly due to your bad habit of running accessories while the car is off?

Date on battery?
I think it's time for a replacement.

also you can have the alternator tested.

[Jespinoza37]

Hi, the battery is only 2 months old, I bought it first because I thought exactly what you said. That it was the battery not holding a charge after 3 autozone recharges, that’s when I bought an Volt meter and confirmed it was the alternator, this battery is new

[e90yyc]

Blew the alt... hmm, I dunno

Did you register the battery to the car when you installed it? Was it an OE or OE-spec battery? This wouldn't (shouldn't) cause the issue you describe, but if you didn't register it you certainly should.

Is there anything non-OEM about your current setup, especially electrically?

It seems unusual for these Bosch alternators to just fail overnight...

Without knowing for certain, it sounds like perhaps there was a problem with the alternator, unless your old one just failed suddenly and without any warning in the same fashion as this replacement one.

Do you have INPA?

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by Jespinoza37

Hello everyone I am new here.
I have a few questions in regards to my alternator and charging.
I few weeks back my car did not want to start, I had the battery charged at autozone, only to find out that the Alternator was not charging the batter .
I bought a new one and new belt as well, from autozone that had the 180 Bosch alternator. I installed my self and car was running great again. But noticed again that one day I was in the car with the radio on for let’s say 2 hours. The car again did not want to start. Charged the battery again and looks like the alternator is not charging the battery.
The car does start with a jump, but once I remove the jumper cables it’s starts to die and does. Volts when I first installed the Alt were a 14.2 with the car on, and batt. Volts at 13.1-12.4 after the car is off.
Looks like I blew Alt again, but have no idea why?
Any help ?
Thank you in advance

If you think the alternator is bad, take it back and buy one from FCP. You'll get a lifetime warranty. An alternator is somewhat of a pricey item.

[Jespinoza37]

Thank you for you reply and suggestions
There is nothing in the car that of after market. The battery is OEm Spec a. One thing I did fail to mention, before the alternator went out my Fiancé said she heard a noise coming from the hood, not a cracking/or popping sound, but a whistling type sound at times, when the car would be at “rest” meaning idle
I thought about the belt being lose but I checked it and it had good tension.

I thought about a fuse or rely, but didn’t seam Like it since the car ran well for about 2-3 weeks after installing the new alternator.

[330istocknot]

Take the battery to have it checked at autozone, they check it for free.

Also, make sure you plugged in the connector to the alternator and it is not loose. Also there is a positive terminal behund the alternator that needed to be nutted, make sure that is tight enough and not loose.

If the battery is good, take the alternator off, and take it to autozone, they will test it for you. I believe they have life time warranty on the alternator, have it replaced if it is bad.

[Biginboca]

Auto parts stores often sell rebuilt or reconditioned alternators. It’s not uncommon to get a bad one.

I know someone who went through 3 auto parts store rebuilt alternators in like 5 weeks before he gave up and bought a new oem one. (For a Jeep not a bmw but still....)

[Pladi]

didnt see anywhere u said you registered the battery .. did you register the battery or not.. that could be a factor. No one here is a BMW charging systems expert so we have to eliminate the obvious