Did my strut die?

[Jayce]

Well, struts are in. All said and done was 385.

Once I got it home I decided to see if I could figure out the electrical issue. I looked under the hood, battery terminals tight. Alternator connections secure, etc. Hmm... so I hit the throttle from under the hood and I heard a distant rattling. I didn't see anything moving, though. I revved it up near 4,500 RPM and I noticed a tiny tiny spark. I look down and here my alternator was throwing a few small sparks when I would hit certain RPM levels. I realized that there was a screw sitting in the open air grate of the alternator. I'm thinking that under certain RPM levels it caused the screw to bounce (hence that distant rattling I noticed) which then caused it to arc a spark at certain times. I wonder if that's where my issue was.

I took the screw out and secured everything back to normal, but I'm parked in like crazy so I'll just drive the car tomorrow to see if the issue is okay now. I'm confident it's fixed, but who knows.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

If you have a multimeter check the alt, or run upto autozone and have them do a load test, if will put a very, very heavy load on the alt to see if it can put out enough amperage, if this car has very sensitive computers, see if they can do a basic amperage test instead of the load test, to keep from harming the computer system.

If you check with the multimeter, you should have ~14v DC, and ZERO AC current, an alt naturally puts out AC, and uses a set of diodes or rectifiers to convert the AC to DC for the car, if a diode has failed, the alt will put out AC, and this, will DESTROY your battery, and potentially damage your computer system.

Also, just because the cables are tight, doesn't mean they do not have corrosion, you should still disconnect, check, clean, and replace as needed.

 

[Jayce]

I did not go and get my battery or alternator tested, however I was gone for New Year's at my buddy's place who lives up north nearly 3 hours away, so I got some decent driving time in after I posted about removing the screw. Didn't experience a single issue the entire time, and since I was driving in the dark to/from I think I would have noticed any weirdness. After the two recent garage bills it was nice to have a simple solution to this one.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

True, it's nice for a change, but having them checked is free, and it's worth to know that your battery and alt are still ok after the screw was in there, sometimes shorts like that can fry a single diode, and you get slight AC voltage going to the battery, not enough to hurt it quickly, but over time.