Bad Alternator?

rnjj1219 · 04-16-2011, 02:16 PM

I've been having a high idle issue and have replaced everything the forum has suggested. I thought it went away but it's reared it's head again. My battery was going on 5 years old so I replaced that as well. I put the volt meter on my battery last night and prior to starting it was 12.7v which seems normal. When I started the engine volts went up to 13.8v then gradually went down until it dropped just below 13.6v and the high idle kicked up bring the RPM up to about 1700. Very slowly (over 5-7 minutes) the volt meter went up to 14.25v which I believe it what it should be when idling normal. It stayed at 14.25 for a while then the idle went back to normal. I'm 98% sure it's a bad alternator but before I spend $130 I just wanted to check in and see what others thought.

TXSaturn02 · 04-16-2011, 02:29 PM

It usually helps the sperts if you post year/specific model of the car.

rnjj1219 · 04-16-2011, 02:37 PM

It's a 1997 Saturn SL, SOHC with manual transmission.

04-16-2011, 02:16 PM	#1
rnjj1219 Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 63	Bad Alternator? I've been having a high idle issue and have replaced everything the forum has suggested. I thought it went away but it's reared it's head again. My battery was going on 5 years old so I replaced that as well. I put the volt meter on my battery last night and prior to starting it was 12.7v which seems normal. When I started the engine volts went up to 13.8v then gradually went down until it dropped just below 13.6v and the high idle kicked up bring the RPM up to about 1700. Very slowly (over 5-7 minutes) the volt meter went up to 14.25v which I believe it what it should be when idling normal. It stayed at 14.25 for a while then the idle went back to normal. I'm 98% sure it's a bad alternator but before I spend $130 I just wanted to check in and see what others thought.

04-16-2011, 02:29 PM	#2
TXSaturn02 Master Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Houston Posts: 4,089 TXSaturn02's Photos 2002 SL2	Re: Bad Alternator? It usually helps the sperts if you post year/specific model of the car. ... 2002 SL2 Manual - new in November, 2001 As of 09/30/17: 223,751 Miles - SOLD New owner report of 08/08/19: 234,408 Miles 2013 Mazda 3 HB - new in October 2012 As of 11/12/20: 78,895 Miles

04-16-2011, 02:37 PM	#3
rnjj1219 Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 63	Re: Bad Alternator? It's a 1997 Saturn SL, SOHC with manual transmission.

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