ping23 Posted December 19, 2011 Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 car has been sitting three months, i tried to start it and let it warm up to operation temp atleast once a week but after my son was born i got kinda backed up. so when i went to start it it wouldnt start, so i figured it was the battery, ive had it jumped a few times and that would get it going..i bought a batter charger and charged the battery, it was at full charge after 8hours on the charger and i went out and started the car. it started right up..i shut it off, and when i went to start it again after about an 1-3hours, it wouldnt start again, power locks worked, lights worked on dash...i figured battery was shot. i went out today to pull the battery to hook up to charger and it went on and after about 5mins it says full charged. while under the hood i noticed the alternator had an oily spot on it, it looks to be the power steering hose that goes to the pump was dripping down. the entire hose looked wet but the power steering fluid is up to the full line. could my alternator be shot? what is possibly causing the leak. its freezing cold out and about to start raining so i cant really look now, but thursday ill have the car in a garage to be able to try to remedy this. any ideas as to what to check? pics wont load so the link has them http://www.30forty50.com/forum/topic/18167-power-steering-fluid-leaking-alternator-bad/page__pid__196957#entry196957 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keaton85 Posted December 19, 2011 Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 Can't do much unless you test the system with a DVM. Oil won't kill it, but you should still test the system to find out what's going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan A Posted December 19, 2011 Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 Doesn't add up. Your alternator has nothing (directly) to do with starting your car. You said the battery was showing fully charged after five minutes. So on that logic your alternator is charging the battery fine. I would have the battery load tested first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping23 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 nothing is adding up..it starts up the first time after being charged by the charger, not the alternator..dont i have to pull the alternator to test the system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keaton85 Posted December 20, 2011 Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 No... Start car, and test with a volt meter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping23 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 where do i test that at? the battery or the alternator?and a DVM is a digital multimeter?oh sorry i see you already answered that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keaton85 Posted December 20, 2011 Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 All this info is everywhere if you google it. Install battery Start or jump vehicle Let idle While still running test voltage at battery It should read 13.5-14.5 volts If you are only getting say 12v or so then it's not charging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping23 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 yea i already googled it and thats what ehow or something said to dothanks man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keaton85 Posted December 20, 2011 Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 no problem, I just wanted to state that you can google it, so you knew that it's a basic task. Nothing really Volvo specific for the testing procedure. If you do get a poor reading then you can start testing things like voltage drop over your cables. If the cables are fine then you will likely have a bad voltage regulator which can be changed out with the alt. in the vehicle. Used it fine as they don't fail to often and they are not difficult to replace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping23 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 how do i test voltage of the cables? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keaton85 Posted December 20, 2011 Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 http://www.excelauto.com/online/Tech.d/altvdt.html that's the basics... Just start with what your alternator is putting out first , and then go from there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping23 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 alright..i also read that if i start the car then pull a battery cable(positive or negative dont remember) and if it still runs the alternator is fine, but i also read dont ever pull a battery cable while car is running bc it can monkey up the computer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keaton85 Posted December 20, 2011 Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 Get a volt meter and you won't have to mess with it. You can pull the cable but you should really know what your charging voltage is.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping23 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 k..will be done tomorrow..thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping23 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 and which cable can i pull, positive or negative? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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