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I recently updated to a v70 and passed along the trusted 940 to junior. He is sixteen and it's his first car.
Just before, I put in a new battery. There were charging problems that seem to point to the alternator so I changed it. I also check every ground I could find and made sure the connectors were secure and clean. The charging problem continued. The car would die until I could jump it and get it home. I put a charger on it and he drove it okay for a few days. The last item I replaced the alternator ground wire.
The car died again last week, and when I went to jump it I discovered the battery contacts on the hot side looked a little rusted on the inside contact. I cleaned it up, jumped it, and took it to a local master mechanic known for quality, thorough work. He went through the car and checked the cables (at my suggestion) for any drops indicating damage not visible. The car is a 1993 940 with 366k miles. They gave the car a clean bill of health. I told sonny boy his troubles were over.
Then when I was out of town I got the distress signal. The car lights got dim and the car stalled in the middle of the road in 4 degree (F) weather. We had it towed to the same guy and he said the charging system again tested fine (!). What he said he found was that the radiator, once the car warmed up and built up pressure, had a tiny leak that squirted coolant directly on the alternator. He said the coolant caused the belt to slip and the alternator to fail charging. He said the alternator was charging perfectly when the belt was gripping.
First off the radiator is a Nissens I put on in 2003 when Esteban (he named it Esteban) was a young buck with 186k miles. I am not pleased to get only 4.5 years out of a radiator. Secondly, I don't know if they really did discover the cause of the problem. I hate to keep putting him through this, plus I don't have time keep at this. I'd like to fix it once and for all and put the charging issue behind me.
1) Is it bad battery cable?
2) Is there somewhere else I need to be looking?
3) Doesn’t it suck that I got only 4.5 years on a Nissen? Swedish Engineering says they only warranty it for 1 year (I did however get 180k miles out of it and that is nothing to sneeze at).
4) Does anyone out there feel sorry for me?
:o)
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I'm stuck on Volvo and Volvo's stuck on me....
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