Car Electrical Systems Explained - How To Diagnose A Failing Alternator vs. A Failing Battery
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Published 2020-09-10
In this video, Nate Vincent, our Motorsports Director, takes you on a deep dive on how to diagnose a failing alternator vs a failing car battery. From testing the voltage and amperage using a multimeter, to going over the internal components of the alternator itself, everything you need to know to find the source of your problem is covered here.
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00:00 - Electrical Issues Intro
00:38 - Why Is My Battery Light On?
01:00 - Inspecting Your Drive Belt
02:15 - Using a Multimeter to Test Your Car Battery
05:36- How To Check Your Vehicle's Battery Voltage with a Scan Tool
08:40 - How a Decoupler Pulley Works
09:45 - Inspecting a Decoupler Pulley
10:45 - What is a Voltage Regulator?
12:18 - Testing the Voltage Regulator
12:30 - Is my Alternator Bearing bad?
12:52 - What is inside the Alternator? - Stator and Rotor and Rectifier Explained
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All Comments (21)
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One of the best, best best video to understand without moving the camera where it goes everywhere. Thank you
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Clear, concise, easy to understand usable information. No assumptions about a DIY mechanic's knowledge. The benchmark for repair videos. Great job. Please make a video on troubleshooting cooling fans and associated electrical system components on a 2004 VW GTI VR6 2.8L.
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first time here.....subscribed immediately. Kudos to the young presenter...very clear and just about right amount of technical for my level of knowledge (liked that pulley comparison with bicycle crank) 👍
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Nate, I know this "how to" is 2 yrs old but it is excellent and has helped me. I am the second owner of a Lexus. Lexus has all of the records of what was done to the car prior to me, which was frequent oil changes and detailing. Now that I'm approaching 100K miles, I realize that nothing was done on it but the few things that needed replacing during my ownership.....speed sensor and rear brakes. I do not fix my own cars, but I will definitely buy a multimeter tester because I'm seeing an alternator in my future. Great job! 😎
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Be aware of your multimeter's cables when working around a running engine. They could become entangled in the drive belt, likely destroying the meter and possibly injuring you.
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This is the best site and video I have seen on this red battery light issue, thank you for up the very simple explanation, with clear and concise instructions. Thank you!!!
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You and your team did an excellent job on this video. Thank you, it's been very helpful.
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For a guy man you know your stuff,glad that I came across this channel. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise
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Great stuff. Just learned a whole bunch. Thanks!
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Thank you for showing where the multimeter dial and leads go to on the multimeter, awesome, a lot leave that bit out.
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Thank you for the in depth lesson. Was great, and thanks for making these amazing videos for DIY
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Thanks so much! Great video so very helpful. Love the visuals!
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A very nice and easy to follow tutorial. looking forward to get more of such videos. Thank you so much
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Simple explanation, very clear 👍
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Just like all of your videos, this is also very informative and an awesome video, Thank you so much FCP EURO, for your great videos and contents, keep up this awesome work and please upload more videos. As I'm an automotive technician, these videos are supremely useful for me. Thank you so much FCP EURO.!
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Quick and simple. Keep it that way. Many thanks.
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Great video i must say and extremely well put forward, you should be on television as a speaker well done young man
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Very helpful video! Thanks!
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One of the best, most informative videos I've seen. Well-done. Too bad my alternator is so buried, it's almost inaccessible.
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Fantastic and thorough video! Thank you.