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2000 Ford Expedition charging problem.?
My 2000 Expedition has suddenly developed a weird charging issue. During normal driving, everything seems to be working fine. If the engine RPM gets to about 3500 (passing on the freeway, hard acceleration, etc.), the lights start to dim and at about 3800 RPM, the battery light comes on. Once you back off the accelerator and the RPM's drop, the lights come back up to full illumination and the battery light goes out. I've been doing my own repairs for more years than I care to count and this is a new one for me. My first thought is that the alternator and/or the voltage regulator are failing but it would be the first time I've ever seen one stop charging based on high RPM's. Any relevant thoughts would be appreciated.
6 Answers
- cory lLv 51 decade agoFavorite Answer
it's your alternator, it isn't simply stopping your charge your just using more power the higher your rpms go, and your alternator is 3/4 of the way dead, so every time your piston comes down and goes back up with the fuel and ignites it uses a small bit of electricity, if your alternator isn't providing the correct amperage you're not fully charging your battery and not compensating for the extra spark your engine needs along with your pcm telling other sensors things that need to make your car run. the higher your rpm's are the more electricity you're going to use. higher rpm's mean more times your piston comes down, sucks air and fuel mixture into your combustion chamber piston comes up to compress the mixture and sparks and repeat
I suggest replacing your alternator, but first make sure you have it tested!!! could be a frayed wire
- 1 decade ago
Your nose knows very well what the problem is. Considering that your vehicle is 10 years old you should not be surprised of the failure coming at this point in the car's life. Remember also that there is a lot more load put on your Expedition than what would have been 1990 production of a similar vehicle. My daughter has 1999 Expedition and she is Always at my door "Dad can you Help me with this or that. Good Luck. At least you can fix it your self .
Albert D.
Source(s): auto mechanic with over 40+ years experiance - StpaulguyLv 71 decade ago
It could be a bad belt tensioner. But it's most likely a bad alternator. This is a classic symptom for Ford alts. What you're seeing at higher RPMs and heavy acceleration is the brushes "floating" on the slip rings of the alternator. The brush springs have overheated and lost some of their temper. So at higher RPS, they don't make good contact and you lose charging. I've seen this on several Ford vehicles.
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- ?Lv 71 decade ago
Had the same problem on my old Dodge truck. The alt brushes were just about down to nothing and the springs did not have enough pressure left to hold them down at high rpm, A new set of brushes and we were good to go.
Source(s): Same as you Mr. Fix It for many years - Anonymous1 decade ago
rectifier issue on your alternator.
you have busted diode on your rectifier.
