ns87 Posted February 5, 2009 Report Posted February 5, 2009 It's barely single digits here, and my alternator died (40k miles on it ) I turned a corner, and my volt meter dropped from 14ish to 9. It used to fluctuate when I'd feather the gas, now it just steadily decreases. Now the alternator whines when I give it gas. When it warms up, I'm going to hook my multimeter directly up to it, to see what it is putting out voltage wise. So anyway as the title asks, "Can extreme cold kill an Alternator"? My car hasn't had a good start to the new year. 2 FPR and one alternator. It's only February Quote
Euro Posted February 5, 2009 Report Posted February 5, 2009 Yeah I believe it. My girlfriend's Jeep crapped out an alternator the last time it got subzero here. Quote
slick Posted February 5, 2009 Report Posted February 5, 2009 Not directly, but indirectly. The cold will drain your battery, thus making the alternator do more of the work. Quote
Regal_GS_1989 Posted February 6, 2009 Report Posted February 6, 2009 I'm sorry, but single digits is not Extreme cold. Say what you will, but you have not experienced "Extreme cold" until you experience a prairie winter up here. Also, unless the battery was not accepting any charge whatsoever (In which case you would not have been able to start the car without jumpstarting it) We've had several stretches of -30 -40 temperatures out here, and I have yet to hear of an alternator going out just because of the cold. If your battery is even half decent, there shouldn't be too much of a drain on the alt. I would just say its a coincidence. Quote
Euro Posted February 6, 2009 Report Posted February 6, 2009 I'm sorry, but single digits is not Extreme cold. Say what you will, but you have not experienced "Extreme cold" until you experience a prairie winter up here. Also, unless the battery was not accepting any charge whatsoever (In which case you would not have been able to start the car without jumpstarting it) We've had several stretches of -30 -40 temperatures out here, and I have yet to hear of an alternator going out just because of the cold. If your battery is even half decent, there shouldn't be too much of a drain on the alt. I would just say its a coincidence. Werd. When my girlfriend's alternator went out it was the couple days where it was -30 to -40 here. However I'm not sure how old her battery is, my guess it would be kinda old. But not sure. Quote
J Posted February 6, 2009 Report Posted February 6, 2009 I'm sorry, but single digits is not Extreme cold. werd! Quote
ns87 Posted February 7, 2009 Author Report Posted February 7, 2009 Fair enough! I replaced it today, and I suppose it wasn't the cold that killed the old one. The voltage is much more constant with this new one, so I guess it was dying for a long time. Let's hope it lasts. Luckily it has a lifetime warranty Quote
carkhz316 Posted February 8, 2009 Report Posted February 8, 2009 I'm sorry, but single digits is not Extreme cold. werd! X324940238492398 We've had something like 50 of the last 60 days that have been below zero consistently, With a few weeks worth at -20 to -30 below or more. So, like everyone else has said, if the battery isn't up to par, that can hurt the alt. indirectly. Quote
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