If my alternator goes out, how much time do I have until the car shuts off?

[94Civicman]

I have a 1994 honda civic dx with the original alternator and about 185,000 miles. Does anyone know from experience how much time I have to get to a safe location should the alternator fail while driving? (How much time the car will run off the battery before shutting down). I work in kind of a rough area and I'm paranoid about the car breaking down in a bad location.

I was told when I purchased the car 14 years ago that the alternators are more likely to wear out on this vehicle if you start the car with the fan/ac in the on position, so I've always kept that off before starting, don't know if that makes any difference.

 

[R3dline]

if you are that worried about it, just go ahead and change it. why wait for it to fail if you are paranoid about it

 

[94Civicman]

if you are that worried about it, just go ahead and change it. why wait for it to fail if you are paranoid about it

On a budget. Hence the reason I'm still driving that old thing.

 

[Avant Uprising]

On a budget. Hence the reason I'm still driving that old thing.

When it goes the car will run off the battery so not very long maybe a few miles it been a long time since this has happened to me

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk

 

[kellogg6316]

buy a multimeter, they are only 20 bucks. Every week or so put one end on red terminal of alternator and another on chassis ground and you should have 14.4 volts. So if it starts getting below this then buy an new alternator. You won't suddenly have non-functioning alternator unless belt breaks. You would have more of a dwindiling output.

 

[crash!]

Really depends on the health of your battery. And if you're driving with radio/headlights/etc on, not very long at all.

 

[mymmeryloss]

^ best explanation yet!

Just chane it man! Theyre cheap as fawk remanufactured from autozone or such...

Think of it this way-- missing work for a broke down car is gonna cost more than preventative maintenance...

 

[RonJ]

buy a multimeter, they are only 20 bucks. Every week or so put one end on red terminal of alternator and another on chassis ground and you should have 14.4 volts. So if it starts getting below this then buy an new alternator. You won't suddenly have non-functioning alternator unless belt breaks. You would have more of a dwindiling output.

I agree^, except you can do the voltage measurement across the battery posts (easier) and you''ll learn more from the test if all the electrical accessories are on with the warm engine idling. In this case, voltage should not drop below about 13.8 V.