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so this has happened to me twice. im driving to work, going average speed and all of sudden radio shuts down, abs light turns on. im going about 65mph and all of sudden all the needles on my gauges fall down like car was turned off. wtf?! any ideas?

 
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alternator. 99.9% positive because the same thing happened to me a few months ago.

 
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how much did it cost to replace?

 
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it was covered under my warranty. they even paid to have it towed and everything because my entire car went dead. if i remember though it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 (this was at a honda dealership, you could do it yourself cheaper).

 
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to check if its your charging system measure the voltage over the battery with the engine running and it should be around 14 volts. If its like 12.5 or lower you have a charging problem which would probably be your alternator.

 
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wow that is scary... how can i check to see if i need to replace my alternator before that happens to me...

 
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^ me too.. i'm curious to kno as well

 
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everything shut off, but you were still able to drive like normal? just no speedo/odo/radio? weird...

we had one lady who bought a mazda CX-7, and two weeks later she brought it back because she said: 'I was driving to work this morning, and all of a sudden, the lights on the dash came on, but the car turned off. I don't know what's wrong..."

our service manager had me grab the gas can, get some gas, and bring it back and put it in the tank. (Mind you, the vehicle as a whole was still just coming to the dealerships, so it could have been anything at that point.)

But, yes...the dumb-@$$ lady had just run out of gas. New car...two weeks of driving to and from work...sounds about right for a tank of gas...But hey, I got paid to drive around until the gas light came back on, so she had enough to get to a gas station!

sorry to *****...

 
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i got an alternator for sale if you need one. lmk

 
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well i had my alternator and starter check out, and its fine. they said its electrical problem. dunno where to start.

 
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"who's they?"

 
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A bad alternator is not going to make your car shut off while driving it.

 
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pep boys. damn what can it be?!

 
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the car didnt shut off in my case, the gauges, radio, everything electrical went out and i was still able to drive the car fine. i also searched on here about the lights coming on and stuff and other people had the same problems. i will try and find the threads about it.

here is a quote from another thread:

that is the exact same thing that happened to me.

 
Rep Power: 316

here the results when i went to pepboys:
Battery Volts: 13.2
Starter am draw: 3
Voltage supply to back of alternator: 12
Charging Volts: 13.5

signs are good?

 
Rep Power: 277

Why would you tell people the car turns off when trying to get help in diagnosing the problem when the car actually doesn't turn off? You're providing symptoms that aren't happening.

 
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bump...about the diagonastic readings. anyone tell me if i need alternator replaced?

 
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why dont u have ur alternator tested for free at any parts store... i replaced mine for about 125 as a diy job

 
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If I cant see the car its hard to diagnose.

 
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bob right? here is wat pep boys reading is:

battery volts:13.2
starter amps draw: 3
voltage supply to back of altenator: 12
charging volts: 13.5

 
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Ya thats me lol. Where did they take those readings from, also you dont need to worry about the starter or battery at all as long as it starts fine. You need to check the voltage at the alternator lug and the battery posts while the engine is running with headlights on. It should be close to 13.8 volts

 
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hey bob, think you can look at it ASAP? and if need to replace altenator can you? i need this done, i just started work and got no ride. im taking day off tomrrow and need to take it somewhere.

 
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well I wont be avalable till about 4:30 monday if you can come by then.

 
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keyword - like.

 
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but if you were driving at night, and ur electrical system is under a load at a red light...yiah, its gonna shut off. My dads 89 suburban died at a red light due to a bad alternator. It was fine with no lights, but once he turned on his lights, it bogged and died. We ran to a 24hr autozone and bought an alternator, switched it out at 2a.m. and it was fine.

 
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I don't think this is possible. I might be wrong but if the car is using fuel to power it, why would it need an alternator? I mean if you aren't powering any of your electrical.

 
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The ECU takes electricity to control the ignition system as well as EVERYthing else in the car. Blinkers brake lights, headlights, radio, windows... All cars have alternators

 
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yiah, if u weren't powering any of your electrical then it would still run. I'm not a mechanic but my old man had a bad alternator and his car was running, but once he turned on his headlights, it just died.

 
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a car with a failing alternator will run for a while on the battery but once the voltage drops low enouph it will die. Turning electrical devices on will kill the battery faster. No modern car will run with the alternator failing for any long length of time. Probably not more then 20-30 mins.

 
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fixed already...was alternator. took it to honda for them to rip me a new a$$hole. had to get it done so i can get to work at my new job i just started not too long ago. ouch.