orangedog Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hello!Had my first real problem from my 2007 V8 S80. About a week ago I got a very brief "charging system failure" warning that didn't even last long enough for me to panic (less than 5 seconds). Well, today was another story. "Fortunately" I was still in the parking lot of a store when it happened again today. Only this time it stayed on and was quickly followed by "headlamp failure", "active suspension failure", "brake failure" and some others that I'm sure I forgot. My indy mechanic can't get to it for over a week so I was reduced to having it towed to a dealer that I don't completely distrust but I'm still girding for the damage report when they get to it next week. Any bets on if I'm just looking at a new alternator or is there some other gremlin in the V8 electrical systems that I should be fearing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris81964 Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 As your battery discharges all the electrical items start to turn themselves off till you get a warning asking you to safely pull over and shut the engine off. It could be a bad battery or bad alternator. I would have tested the battery first. Is it the original battery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orangedog Posted July 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 I've only had the car for about 3 months and have had no reason to take the cover off of the battery housing, so it could be original. If this had happened at home I would have checked a few things but as it was I was on my way back to work from lunch and was scrambling to arrange AAA to get a tow truck, see if my mechanic could see it (he couldn't), make arrangements with the dealer, get a ride back to the office (opposite direction from dealership), reserve a rental car cancel the rest of my appointments today. These things never happen at a convenient time and place. It never made any of the typical noises that one would expect to hear if a bearing in the alternator, pulleys or tensioners we're starting to wear. But then again I haven't made a habit of sticking my head under the hood except to check the oil every couple of fill-ups. It only has around 62,000 miles on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran9690 Posted July 24, 2015 Report Share Posted July 24, 2015 Alternator is very common on the V8's, I've replaced quite a few. Alternator gets its signal from the ECM. Have had 1 or 2 that the ECM was not giving a signal to the alternator. It would charge at 13.5 volts, which is on the lower end, but still charging. However, since the ECM wasn't outputting the voltage, it made the charging system light stay on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orangedog Posted July 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2015 I'm unsure if I should feel more nauseous at the idea of a bad alternator or a bad ECM. I can't imagine either one would be cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran9690 Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Neither is cheap, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orangedog Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Just got off the phone with the dealer. The alternator was bad and I told them to replace the voltage regulator while they have everything apart. $1600 out the door. From what I've seen, you have to take apart a lot of stuff to get at them so I'm not grumbling too much about that. They said if the ECM is cooked that will be another $1600. I'm almost pining for the day when I "only" had to deal with the defective throttle body on the 1999 S80 that I had 12 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran9690 Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 If they replaced the alternator with a new one, the voltage regulator comes with it. They can check for voltage at the connector to the alternator once it's out to see if it's getting a signal from the ECM. If they are thorough, they will check it before they put the new one in. It's a very labor intensive job, axle needs to come out, the belt is a pain and if they are not careful, they can break the boss off the tensioner. If you haven't done the belt, idler pulleys, and tensioner, I would have them do it. Belt has to come off, so labor won't be as much as it normally would. I've seen catastrophic failure when the bearing in the pulleys go bad. The last one I had that came in the shop that through the belt because the pulley seized broke the boss in the timing chain cover, requiring me to have to replace the whole front cover, what a nightmare. Wasn't cheap to the customer either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orangedog Posted July 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Got the S80 back today. Fortunately the ECM was not damaged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.