Please help! My daughter is 3 hours away at college and we can't get her car fixed. About 2 weeks ago, it started squealing, a co-worker thought it might be the Tension Idler(bare with me, I am a woman and no nothing about parts). So she took it to a place there and they replaced all parts & the belt. It still made the noise, but as she was driving home from there she didn't hear it from the inside, the windows would not go down so she pulled over, this time she heard a different noise. When she got back in, the radio/gauges were off and then it went dead. She called the shop back & he came, thought it was the alternator, so he replaced it and tested the battery, said it was fine.
4 days later, she went to start it and she received a "check charging system" message but it started. couple hrs later, she was driving home and suddenly her radio/gauges, etc stopped working & right as she got in apt parking lot, it went dead. She got a loaner battery and went to the parts store, they tested the "new" alternator and said it was good. She had the battery charged so we then took it to the local Ford dealer.
They stated the Crank Shaft Pulley was damaged so we replaced it. She picked up the car and then 3 days later as she started it, she received the same "check charging system" and her radio went out. I told her to drive it to the Ford dealer and leave it. Unfortunately for her, it died at a red light and we had to have it towed there.
So today, they state that it is now the alternator! What the heck, wouldn't they have known that 3 days ago, shouldn't they have tested it then?? And remember, this is a NEW alternator. So we are in about $1000.00 and we don't know what to do or believe. He replaced the alternator again & said it seems fine but she is driving 3 hrs home this weekend & I cant have her break down, stranded...ANY HELP/SUGGESTIONS are greatly appreciated!

 

The alternator and battery in this car is weird from the factory. The Motorcraft battery they use in this car for whatever reason fails quite a lot. Plenty of stories on that. Awesome had one, and had another, and there won't be a third, forget it. Advance Auto Part's battery seems to be much better so far.

As far as the alternator weirdness, the battery can cause the alternator to die, even if it's brand new/rebuilt.

The weak battery makes the alternator charge a bunch. And what happens is this excessive charging causes the diodes to fail in the alternator. Think of diodes as a one way street for electricity. In simplest terms, the diodes turn the alternating current (AC, back and forth a buncha times a second) generated by the alternator into direct current (one way) that can charge the battery. There is also a regulator that allows/disallows charging. If you constantly charge a charged battery... well, it's not a good idea.

Overuse of the charging circuits will cause them to fail, and the alternator won't charge the battery, or worse, may actually overcharge it. Whichever is the case, the alternator is now dead and needs replacement or rebuild.

It's just a timing thing that happened here. It's likely that she won't experience any more issues for a while with a new alternator and a new battery, which is the paring you have now. But if it's a Motorcraft battery, do not expect longevity. 3 years is going to be a good run, from what I've heard/experienced.

Yes, it's a little odd they didn't catch the weakened alternator when the battery died, but if it was otherwise working, but NOT YET failed... nobody can. The test will not show it. Timing is everything, if you will, and that's what happened here.

I would be ok with driving the car for sure now. I hope that helps.

AND... welcome to the forums!

 

Thanks for your info...actually the battery is not new but replaced about 3-4 years ago, not sure what kind though. So right now, we have a new alternator and an old battery...they say the battery is good...I don't know anymore. Now I think it is something electrical causing it not to keep charge as today yesterday they replaced the alternator again and state they could not test drive it because the panel said the gas was "zero to empty" however my daughter claims it had a little less than 1/2 tank. So we had them put gas in & they added 7 gallons which the panel said it had 90 miles to empty BUT the serv mgr says the "gauge" now says about 3/4 tank. I know that 7 gallons didn't put that much so that means it DID have gas in the first place. That tells me the panel aint working right, which is electrical....

 

I don't remember if the 06's had the same gauge cluster problem that a lot of us with 05's did , but they would go bad and some of the gauges would start giving incorrect readings. It could be this problem and not actually related to you other problem , and I think houtex gave a pretty good explanation of what that probably is ...

 

Thanks...we had the 2nd new alternator put in today, directly from Ford so we will cross our fingers!

 

did whom ever put the battery in do a voltage test??

 

OH. I thought I read replacement battery.... Well, put another one in it so my post is correct.