stumped on a charging system for a 01 Ford Focus?

Question

O.K. heres the deal, the alternator is charging, sometimes. The vehicle belongs to a friend from church and I have volunteered to fix the problem. The information they are giving me is this, On long distance drives, the battery light will come on, after a period of constant drive time when the vehicle is at normal running temp, the lights will dim, and once in a while the vehicle will completly shut down. At that time they just restart it and continue their journey. The battery voltage is at 12.97 volts, and when running it is at 14.95 to 15.00 volts. For any of you that has replaced an alternator on one of these gems, it does'nt look like it is going to be a whole lot of fun. I'm going to take a little spin down the road and see if I can verify what they tell me is happening and then when the problem starts I'll recheck the output and see what I can determine at that point. Any other ideas will be helpful. THANKS

Answer 1

battery cable recall 02V288000,this may apply to this car if it has a ztec engine
Bulletin Number: 0245
INFORMATION REGARDING DISCHARGED BATTERY CHARGING SERVICE TIPS AND GUIDELINES. ( NHTSA ITEM NUMBER - 636065 )
Bulletin Number: 14497
SOME VEHICLES MAY EXHIBIT THE CHARGING SYSTEM INDICATOR ILLUMINATED AT TIMES OR CONSTANTLY. THE CHECK ENGINE LAMP MAY ALSO BE ILLUMINATED WITH DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODES P1244, P1245 OR P1246 (GENERATOR LOAD INPUT HIGH / LOW / FAILED). ( NHTSA ITEM NUMBER - 616567 )

heres some places to start,check with ford as they may have some coverage in place or tr ycan supply you with the repair procedure

Answer 2

first verify that there is a problem when the battery light comes on. next i would look at all the grounds and make sure there is no problem there. your battery voltage and running voltage are fine but this is under a no load situation. take it to a local auto parts store and see if they can load test the battery and alternator, especially if its the original battery. after an extended run it may be over-charging the battery