im fairly sure the alternator is gone bad... battery keeps going dead and its only 2 yr old. ive put it on the charger after its been dead then driven for a hour and it comes up with a low charge capacity but still 12v (give or take a volt) my charger shows the battery %, current and voltage.

so what cars use the same alternator? im going to go out on a limb and say ford contour v6? maybe ford taurus? and most likely the Lincoln ls v6?
anyone have a part number of one that will work? and how hard is this thing going to be to change? is there a DIY for this anywhere?

good news is if this is in fact the issue it may fix my HID issues...my new theory is the ballasts aren't getting enough voltage.

 

mazda6, ford contour sport, 2005-2006 lincoln zephyr, lincoln LS.....

 

Mike, the bolt pattern is going to be the same as the ones listed above, just make sure to get the correct amperage rating though (this is going to be the tough part). Our Jags require a 160 amp alternator. Most of those other cars are going to have either a 95 or 130 amp unit. The one for the Zephyr might. The systems of our cars require lots of power. So, keep that in mind.

 

THermo is right, with all the options on our cars it's a completely different draw. I think if there is a good alternator place around they can rebuild yours, last time I did it on a British car it was around 150.00. And you know what you're getting.

 

i replaced the battery and i tested the alternator.. alternator was still putting out power, im not sure if its charging enough or if it was overworking for a fried battery that was only 1.5yrs old...
its been starting fine for a day and the lighs are now working...so far... fingers crossed.

 

The alternator should put out charging voltage when you first start the car. There is some very long posts about the exact way it charges, take a quck search.
basically the alternator has 2 different mode, hi charge, and low charge. The car's computer decides when it goes in hi or low mode.
for sure when you first start the engine, it will be in hi mode for a while. voltage will be close to 15V I think, then it will drop down to 13 something when the car is up to normal running conditions.

I dont know if the other cars alternators are compatible with the Jag's computer signals... with checking gout before laying down cash.

Even a very dead battery will measure 12V when there is no load. on it..
I suggest you turn the ingition on before measuring the voltage, it might be just a bad battery.

 

Other vehicle alternators will function correctly in our cars since as long as they don't have an internal voltage regulator (ie, older chevy for example, this is normal characterized by having a single large wire coming off of the alternator). The computer controls the amount of current going to the field wire. The more current to the field wire, the higher the voltage output is going to be for a given current draw.

As for testing a battery, the standard that I use is simple: with the car off, the battery should be reading 12.6 VDC (anything less and the battery is not at 100% charge or there is an internal problem, especially if the voltage is down around 10.4 VDC which is a sign of a dead cell). Then, with the car still off, turn on the headlights. This will put about a 10 amp draw on the battery. You should see the voltage drop no further than 0.1 VDC, leaving the battery at 12.5 VDC. A larger voltage drop than 0.1 VDC is a sign that you have a cell that is starting to go. While this check isn't foolproof, it does catch most of the problems that you can experience with a battery

 

It appeaers to have been resolved. Lights are also working properly for about a week
I swapped out the battery and some wiring..

 

just wondering whether my jag 2.5L x-type AWD will take this alternator

Ford Contour Alternator 200 AMP 1998 2000 2 0L L4 NEW High AMP High Output | eBay

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Mercury-Couga...00043a&vxp=mtr

its a ford contour alternator rated at 200 amps

 

kashaf, from a quick look and knowing what blocks are based off of each other, I would venture to guess that it will not work. The 2.1L motor for our cars (european market, not US market) is a different block than the 2.5/3.0L motor as I remember.

A lot of the Ford alternators have what are called "G numbers". Ford used a range of them: 1G, 2G, 3G, etc. If you can find the G number for the alternator in your car, then cross referencing will be easy as the body of the alternator is the same along with the plugs and whatnot. The difference then is only the internals which is what controls how much current it outputs.