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08-28-2018, 10:27 PM | #1 |
Drives: 2009 5-Door Liftback Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 333
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Is my alternator fine?
So, my battery finally died. It's the original battery, and lasted just over nine years. Not bad! Anyway, so I call AAA and a tech comes out to my house to replace the battery. In addition, he ran some diagnostics. Under the charging test, the device he used to test the alternator showed the No Load Voltage at 13.83 V (this was the car idling), and the Loaded Voltage at 13.69 V (this was when the car was in park, with me pressing lightly on the gas pedal). The AAA guy said that these numbers are on the low end of normal. He explained that the low reading could either be because it was a brand new battery, or the alternator might be on the way out. He recommended that I take it to a dealership for further testing.
Since I'm not mechanically inclined, and I'm female, I'm worried that if I go the the dealership, they'll tell me my car will explode if I don't get a new alternator. So, do these readings show that I may need a new alternator? Or are they low because the battery is new? The car still feels like it runs like new. Would not doing a whole lot of driving shorten the life of the alternator? The car's got only 27,000 miles on it. Since I take public transportation to work, I only drive the Yaris on the weekends, and it's mostly city driving. I drive on the freeway only a few times a year. Thank you in advance! |
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