headed in to boston this past weekend...things started to get dim...it's 4am, not about to stop....made it to the base in boston, stopped at the pass office and that was it....car wouldn't start....very weak cranking..barely turning......jumped it and pulled into the boat shop..r&r'd the alt...all's well
....but it seems that i burned a ton of fuel on this trip....i'm guessing that i was running on the batt for a good part of the trip.....don't know if the v/r
would gradually decrease output or just die.....but would this cause increased fuel consumption......curious about this...thanks for any ideas, theories or
nordic sagas that might explain this......j.

I didn't notice this at the time but you know, the same thing happened to my Toyota Camry. I think streetangel21 is correct. My Camry on empty so I filled it up, only took $10- to do it. It didn't occur to me at the time that my laternator was about to not be useful any more. A few days and few hundred dollars later I have a new alternator and better gas mileage but, now, I don't think the mileage is any different, the car just likes 20 amps more the 40 amps. Oh the things I learn on this board.
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Portland, OR 1987 240 dl wagon (not so rusty anymore) 'rustbucket'

Check your ground wire at the alternator and don't know what year you have but check the wire harness for cracked, flakey insulation

John, SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME!!! I'm also working on getting a new altenator for my car at this moment. The same thing happened to me when I JUST filled up w/ fuel. When the lights were going dim until they went out! I noticed that the gas gauge was really low! I think when the power started to get low, the gauge wasn't working due to low charging. I don't think we were running low on fuel at all. I just bought a new battery (had alt. and battery tested at the disc. auto parts). The whole time, I had been runnning off the battery, and the alt. wasn't charging up batt. at this time... I don't think they really tested the alt. out very well, or didn't at all at that time. I think you have a bad alt. like my volvo. I was also reading earlier in a forum that you might want to check all the wires on the altenator, and make sure they have a good connection. You could also use a meter to measure the amps. G-luck, hope this helps. StreetAngel.