Was out with my wife last night when a red warning for the generator came on. 5 minutes later the car is dead. Can't believe it didn't come on earlier.

It's not charging. Battery is fine (jumped it for a few minutes and it took enough charge to get us home).

Any thoughts on what this is going to cost me? We have an Indy about 25 miles away. I'm going to call them and see if they can work on it. If so, I'll limp it to them. If not, nearest dealer is 100+ miles away, so I'll likely trailer it there.

Just not my night.

 

Did you wash you car or was it raining? Could have been a slipping alternator pulley?

 

Wasn't wet at all. Could be a slipping belt. I'm hopeful! I'm taking it to our local guy later this week. We'll see.

 

If you do it yourself it will be $200-400 for the alternator depending on your source and if it's rebuilt. If it's new and Porsche stamped, it will set you back almost $1,000. If you pay to have someone install figure a couple hundred for that. Maybe more. If you drive it much more just on the battery you'll be needing another one of those also.

 

If you are a standard tranny car check the alternator pulley as they can fail causing it to freewheel and not charge the battery. Or possibly the diode in the back of the alternator. Do a search the is some good info here if you are mechanically inclined. I had an issue with my alternator too, turned out it was the pulley. $35 for a new one easy fix didn't even remove it from the car, you just need a special wrench. Good luck.

 

you should be glad you dont have an Audi S4 V8 car. The alternator was $1200 from audi, and was not available remanufactured.

 

If its the alternator ... get one online .. .I think it set me back around $200 ... did the install myself ... and I'm in no way mechanicaly inclined .... got everything out in about 20 minutes .... another 20-30 minutes to get the alternator in ... its a little tight in there ... had to get it in on a certain angle ... and another 20 minutes to get everything back in ...

My issue started with my Voltage Gauge not showing a solid 14V ... I'd start off on 13.5V and would go down from there ... it would hang out around 12.5 - 12V during stop and go traffic ... I figured it was the alternator ...

Still have the same prob tho after a new one was installed.

 

Any suggestions on the source for an alternator? Suncoast wants $1300. I've googled, but the best is still $500+ and I don't know any history.

It's a Tip, so a different alternator.