Legos!

"Spaceball-Two" (spaceball-two) 10/10/2018 at 13:47 • Filed to: Ferd

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Pretty sure my alternator just shit the bed.

I dropped in a new battery as the original was way down on charge and probably wouldn’t have lasted the winter. Still getting the angry Lego symbol. My power steering went out intermittently as well. So maybe a belt. 2013 F150 for the record.

Quadradeuce > Spaceball-Two 10/10/2018 at 14:06

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Last time I had an alternator die was on a 1990 Grand Prix.  Seems like an odd thing to break on such a new car with so little miles.

Spaceball-Two > Quadradeuce 10/10/2018 at 14:08

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Very true. I’m really hoping it’s a cheap fix.

Urambo Tauro > Spaceball-Two 10/10/2018 at 15:30

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Check the forums before condemning the alternator . I used to be pretty comfortable working on charging systems, but modern one s have a lot of weird battery management stuff in there that makes my knowledge sorely outdated. So don’t throw an alternator at it until it’s been properly diagnosed.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Spaceball-Two 10/10/2018 at 15:40

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You say lego, I say drunk robot.

Spaceball-Two > Urambo Tauro 10/10/2018 at 15:54

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This is great info thanks. Looking into forums I may need to just leave the truck for 8 hours to let the vehicle integrate with the new battery. My main concern was loss of power steering. I wouldn’t have thought those would be connected, hence me thinking it was a belt or the alternator.

diplodicus > Spaceball-Two 10/10/2018 at 16:00

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What a time to be alive, have to let your new battery get to know your car.

Urambo Tauro > Spaceball-Two 10/10/2018 at 16:08

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Yeah, I’m a bit out of my depth here but I wanted to give you that heads-up anyway. I forgot to mention in that post that when I was disconnecting my brother’s battery, the terminal that I was unbolting threw a few more sparks than I was expecting to see, and the wipers jumped a little. But the switch was turned off, and the wipers had many opportunities before then to have fully returned to their parked position... So I dunno. And everything seemed normal again once the new battery was in. *shrug*

At any rate, don’t stop at the first forum post you see. I, too, have come across that “8 hour reset” suggestion, but I’ve also seen responses refuting that technique... I don’t even know if a reset will fix your issue, but if it comes to that, I’d feel better using a reset procedure that actually notifies you that the reset was successful.

Gabe37 > Spaceball-Two 10/10/2018 at 16:40

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Unless you’ve got the 6.2l V8 in your F-150, you’ve got an electric steering rack, so no belt.  The reason you’re getting the feeling your power steering is going out--is because you don’t have enough voltage to power the rack.  If you lose power, you’re gonna lose steering ability.  Go get the alternator changed ASAP so you don’t lose control and hurt yourself or someone else.  

Spaceball-Two > Urambo Tauro 10/10/2018 at 16:43

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I’ve got a spare rig so it can sit for a day or so. I’ll check back on it tomorrow afternoon. If it hasn’t reset I’ll move to the next culprit . Thanks again!

Spaceball-Two > Gabe37 10/10/2018 at 16:44

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Oh it was a joy wrestling that thing back to my house this morning. I’m going to wait to see if the battery resets and give it a run around the block. If that doesn’t work then for sure I’m on to the alternator. 

Spaceball-Two > Gabe37 10/13/2018 at 18:56

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It indeed was the alternator. All fixed.

Spaceball-Two > Urambo Tauro 10/13/2018 at 18:57

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It was the alternator. Wah wah

Urambo Tauro > Spaceball-Two 10/13/2018 at 19:34

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Go figure. So the original alternator lasted 5-6 years, huh?

Spaceball-Two > Urambo Tauro 10/13/2018 at 19:42

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About 5 yeah. Talking to my mechanic, he mentioned it was larger than he’s seen previously. I have a towing package and a cold weather package and oddly enough it was a Canadian truck. Just got wore out.

Urambo Tauro > Spaceball-Two 10/13/2018 at 22:46

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Huh. Still seems pretty early for an OE one to go .