On a 2001 Kia: My friends car is having starting problems. He's replaced the battery and the altenator. He had to jump it off twice last night to get it home. My meter shows that the battery has 12.1v charge, but it won't start on its own power. We jumped it off and removed the cables, then my meter showed a flucuation in charge. It went from 12v to 13.5v then down to 9.2v and shot up to 22.5v and dropped to 7.0v.
I suspect a faulty voltage regulator but am not sure since the car won't start (acts like a dead battery-click,click).
After all this I discovered that the neg. cable was loose so I tightened it up. THEN, he told me that he was running a 2,000w amp for his stereo. I believe that he will keep going through altenators as long as he's running that amp!!
Assuming he quits running the amp, should I check out anything else. We're going to go ahead and replace this altenator.
2006-12-12 04:06:18 · 8 answers · asked by nate_625 3 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
I removed the altenator myself and when I did, I discovered that the connector on the end of the power wire had come completely off. I reinstalled a new connector and he's had no further problems.
Ohh, he disconnected the amp completely for now until he can get what he needs to run it.
2006-12-14 09:57:52 · update #1
i own a repair shop,and he needs to have a battery in there that's capable of handling the amp he is running also,,it probably will damage another alternator on it if you replace it,so id suggest to him a good battery also,if he stops running that amp it might be alright,good luck with it,i hope this help,s.,,have a good and safe x-mas,
2006-12-12 04:24:07 · answer #1 · answered by dodge man 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
have to disagree with mr know it all, even if you pull the power straight off the battery, the alternator still needs to make up the difference for whats been taken out, and i doubt the amp draws only 17 amps. you on the right track though suspecting the amp as the culprit.if he wants to keep running the amp, he should have the alternator rebuilt to produce more power,to compensate for the draw.may also want to consider getting a higher capacity battery,to help even out the electrical system.preferably i would go with both options.
2006-12-12 15:20:03 · answer #2 · answered by yankeegray_99 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, pull out your hack saw and remove the top of his head and replace his brain. At 2000 watts this unit will draw over 150 amps, the alternator at best has maybe 40 amps output. Tell brainiac that he should have at least a 100 amp alternator. That way he may only need to replace it once a month.
2006-12-12 12:24:17 · answer #3 · answered by John R 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a mechanic, but the amp is going to draw huge amounts of power. He needs to put in a capacitor to hold the charge so as not to drain the battery when attempting to start it. They run from $100-$200 at Circuit City.
2006-12-12 12:09:19 · answer #4 · answered by DA 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Disconnect the amp completely (ground wire too) and do an alternetor check. One big mistake hooking up high powered amps is grounding them improperly. Also, yes you need a high output alternator or atleast a 2 farad capacitor to handle the bass drain for the low frequencies in your music(notice your lights dimming on the bass hits, not cool.
2006-12-12 12:15:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
his amp will require a seperate battery with an isolator. a 12.1v battery is very weak. like to see 12.6v. the alternator might be damaged but i'd disconnect the amp and monitor the charging voltage before i bought a new one.
2006-12-12 12:10:56 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
a 2000 watt amp souldn't draw more than 17 amps (no big deal)
I'm more concerned where he's drawing power FROM for the amp. He may be overloading a cicuit that's not designed for that amount of power.
Go straight to the battery for power.
ADDED:
OOPS, i check my math........I was wrong. I did it for 200 watt...
2006-12-12 12:12:59 · answer #7 · answered by Mr. KnowItAll 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Disconnect his stereo for a day or two and confirm what you think. Also check the 'earth' to the car body..............
2006-12-12 12:09:41 · answer #8 · answered by thomasrobinsonantonio 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋