I didn’t make it home

  • Thread starter Thread starter BeZo
  • Start date Start date
That's a shit situation. I managed to blow a fucking alternator on a cross-country trip after overheating from New Mexico to Texas. This was in my Miata. The shop in Arlington was like, "ya know...a lot of gays drive this car..."
Thankfully my break down was on flat surface (thanks Texas). I literally coasted into a hotel parking lot, got some rest, and called for a tow in the morning.

Good luck dude. That shit can be stressful as fuck.
 
BeZo said:
I was driving home from practice when the lights went out in my Honda. I just replaced the battery, but it turns out the alternator took a shit. I'm sitting on a side street off the highway in a sketchy part of town waiting for a tow truck.
Click to expand...
Where's yer Gun??
 
MetalThrasher said:
If someone is with you, get a screwdriver and tap on the alternator and try starting it. Could be a bad starter. If it does start don't shut it off until you get to where you are going.
Click to expand...
Tapping on the alternator is going to do what in relation to the starter ? Tapping on the starter solenoid can sometimes get a starter to work.

Every bad starter I ever had ( and I literally just put one in my Ram last weekend) only resulted in the vehicle not starting. Never had one kill the battery while it was running.
 
Floyd Eye said:
Tapping on the alternator is going to do what in relation to the starter ? Tapping on the starter solenoid can sometimes get a starter to work.

Every bad starter I ever had ( and I literally just put one in my Ram last weekend) only resulted in the vehicle not starting. Never had one kill the battery while it was running.
Click to expand...
That's what I meant to say. As you can tell I'm not a mechanic.
 
MetalThrasher said:
If someone is with you, get a screwdriver and tap on the alternator and try starting it. Could be a bad starter. If it does start don't shut it off until you get to where you are going.
Click to expand...
It's the alternator, not the starter. You can tap on the starter if it gets stuck, but you can't tap on the alternator to get power.
 
Man, I haven't thought about breaking down in TX in a while. The only reason the alternator blew was because the head gasket blew, a radiator hose popped off and coolant was sprayed all over the alternator haha.
I did absolutely nothing about the head gasket during that trip and just continued to drive the car into submission. It overheated, it burned oil. It didn't have a radio. One time I was driving with headphones in (stupid, I know) and I didn't hear that engine knocking...but boy...I must have ran that car bone fucking dry cause eventually those rods came through the block and I had a fire under my hood hahaha.

Good luck @BeZo
 
I was having problems with my old e21 BMW, then one time I looked down in there and saw the ground connection arching. It was snapped off. So sometimes it was resting there connected and I was fine and sometimes I would go over a bump and it would knock loose. Very annoying.
 
BeZo said:
I was driving home from practice when the lights went out in my Honda. I just replaced the battery, but it turns out the alternator took a shit. I'm sitting on a side street off the highway in a sketchy part of town waiting for a tow truck.
Click to expand...
Happened to me once in the middle of Indiana. I just bought a brand new alternator and it was a bad one.
 
Did a belt in my Jeep like that once haha. Right in the parking lot of the AutoZone; they hate that ya know.
 
phillybhatesme said:
Did a belt in my Jeep like that once haha. Right in the parking lot of the AutoZone; they hate that ya know.
Click to expand...
I did a power steering pump in a BP station once. I walked to the parts store and got the part, and a buddy came and helped me do it. We pulled the pulley off in the store when we did the core exchange. They weren't happy.

I bought a gun that day (FNX9), and the pump seized right as I was leaving the lot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top