Originally Posted by
scott10301
Driving home from work today, noticed smoke coming from the hood and a hellish burnt electrical smell. Pulled over and popped the hood and the alternator was smoldering. I was able to turn on my hazards, but after a few mins I noticed they were dead.
Got the car home on a tow-truck. No power to anything - lights, doors, etc. The battery was still a little warm 2 hours after this. I disconnected the battery and tried reconnecting it, but nothing. I suppose I'll have to check the battery to make sure it's still good tomorrow, but I'm worried that some of the electronics may have been toasted. Any ideas on where to look after the battery?
Your alternator probably hasn't been charging for awhile, just dependends on how much you drive your car. But you've probably been running off the battery for a few days, so Your battery is probably stone dead.
I just had to replace the original alternator on my Honda Civic a couple weeks ago, and we accidently drove the car several days on the battery alone. The alternator light never came on once, but driving home one day I notice the gauges stopped working, then came back on, then went off again. I made it home and shut the car off. When I tried to start it up it just clicked.
I have a pretty good battery charger, and I had to leave it on for about 12 hours before the battery was charged up again. The Civic has 190k miles on it. A "new" (not rebuilt) alternator was about $145.00 at NAPA.
How many miles on your Crossfire?