Umbra
Hobbyist & CA Tenderfoot
I don't know how often people visit this subforum, but since I don't have any accounts at any car repair forums I'll give it a shot.
I was driving a 2002 Ford Windstar (automatic) locally the other day and it cut out while moving. I was going about 40 in town and the battery, check engine, and oil lights all came on. I think the engine cut out (or at least I couldn't accelerate) and I lost power steering. I moved it over to the side, turned it off, and turned it back on. It came right back up and I drove it home. Didn't touch it 'til this morning. Checked the battery voltage it was a high 11. Turned it on and checked it again and it was 15.3 at idle (didn't have someone around to check it while revving). I have very limited mechanical expertise, but it sounds like a shot voltage regulator (hopefully the thing in the alt, I think in some cars there's an ECU component). I asked a salvage yard if they sold this, they don't, but they can get the alt in within a day for $50. Checking online I could get a used one for about that price, maybe a little more, or a new alt with a 1 year warranty for $80 (just have to wait on shipping).
I've never replaced an alt, but there's a lot of information online. Apparently it's not terribly difficult on this model and I know a lot of people here swap out their alts for HO models.
Firstly, does this sound like a bad voltage regulator? Secondly, what would you do, get a new/used alt and hope that's the fix or bring it to a shop for further investigation?
I was driving a 2002 Ford Windstar (automatic) locally the other day and it cut out while moving. I was going about 40 in town and the battery, check engine, and oil lights all came on. I think the engine cut out (or at least I couldn't accelerate) and I lost power steering. I moved it over to the side, turned it off, and turned it back on. It came right back up and I drove it home. Didn't touch it 'til this morning. Checked the battery voltage it was a high 11. Turned it on and checked it again and it was 15.3 at idle (didn't have someone around to check it while revving). I have very limited mechanical expertise, but it sounds like a shot voltage regulator (hopefully the thing in the alt, I think in some cars there's an ECU component). I asked a salvage yard if they sold this, they don't, but they can get the alt in within a day for $50. Checking online I could get a used one for about that price, maybe a little more, or a new alt with a 1 year warranty for $80 (just have to wait on shipping).
I've never replaced an alt, but there's a lot of information online. Apparently it's not terribly difficult on this model and I know a lot of people here swap out their alts for HO models.
Firstly, does this sound like a bad voltage regulator? Secondly, what would you do, get a new/used alt and hope that's the fix or bring it to a shop for further investigation?