Cobra died... alternator/battery culprit... opinions?

[ygohome]

On Thursday night driving to my parents the cobras stereo shut off by itself and wouldn't turn back on.... then I noticed the AC wasn't working either... and I couldn't turn on the traction control (light stayed lit on the button)... then a few block later it sputtered and died.

I was able to coast into a highschool parking lot. My sister came by and we were able to jump start it.

the little "eye" on the battery was red which indicates it is not holding a charge. SO I went to SAMs and bought a replacement.

This morning I noticed a "whirring" sound comming from the engine. I pulled into a parking lot and popped the hood. I suspect it is comming from the alternator... thus the dead battery I had on Thr night.

I take it in on Tue... till then I'm driving the Jeep instead.

Any opinions? Perhaps the alternator is the culprit??

Sure wish the dash had a battery charge gauge to warn of this... if I had been heavily into the boost, who knows what damage might have resulted from loss of fuel... etc.

thanks

-Ben

 

[maoun]

lotsa alternators on our cars go....probably it

 

[Dana]

Ford alternators are junk

Dana

 

[racerat]

Originally posted by maoun
lotsa alternators on our cars go....probably it

Yep...a buddy's went a few weeks ago and his car was stock.

 

[ygohome]

who makes a good quality alternator that would work in this application? I have a really strong starter in my Jeep made by a company called SOMTHING... GREEN... SOMTHING. They prob make a pretty good alternator too. I'll do a search in google to see what I can find.

any recomendations on good alternator? I have stock stereo, lights, etc...

Thanks

-Ben

*EDIT: The manufacturere I was thinking of was MEAN GREEN. I'm emailing them to see about an alternator for the 03 Cobra

http://www.mean-green.com/products/alternator.html

 

[Sonic 03 Cobra]

Yeah the alternators leave much to be desired. This is my 3rd SN95 and this is the only one that after 18 months of ownership is still on it's original alternator.

Why didn't you call roadside? They wouldv'e gotten it all taken care of for ya.

 

[RedfireVenom]

Do you have a lower pulley by any chance?

 

[BillyMac72]

try pa performance
pa-performance.com

 

[olchakla]

same problem I had driving down the highway, radio and radar detector went dead. Alternator went back and it is second time the alternator went out. Sucks sitting on the highway for almost 2 hours waiting for the tow truck without a radio to listen to.

 

[ygohome]

no lower pulley... just an upper 2.93 pulley.

believe it or not, I'm already past the 36k mark (not even 2 years old yet). Yeah, I drive it too much. does roadside only cover for warrentied cars? but my sister was only a few blocks away so it wasn't too bad.

Gonna call David Smilovic in the morning at xtreme motorsports instead of taking it to a dealer I think. Maybe get a few other goodies for it too, like that lower pulley :beer:

 

[ygohome]

Mean Green replied to my email. The part number for a 200 amp alternator for the 03 cobra is... MG7781

and can be found thour this site...

http://templates.earthstores.com/12...5706572666F726D616E63657061727473&prod=237766

 

[ygohome]

oh, and I'm bringing it into xtreme motorsports on Wed.

in addition to the alternator replacement I'm also getting subframe connectors and some replacement NGK TR6s

and even considering maybe a new tune... they have the DIABL Revolustion hardware/programmer which uses the black diablo chips.

I'll let you know how that turns out.. I'm pretty excited to get some new fun stuff on the Mustang. I'm toying with the idea of a lower metco pulley cage w/ a 4lbs pulley. we'll see

:beer:

 

[dataangel]

Just adding my experience to the pile. I had my alternator go out on my 03 last week. About 15K miles on the car, no lower. It popped on the dyno - smelled the burnt-alt smell there, then gave out on the ride home (charging system light).

I think they're just junk. My dealership didn't even blink when I asked for a replacement. . . took the tech about 40 mins start to finish: looked like a pain in the ass.

 

[Wild Bill]

Welcome to the club.

 

[Dana]

ygo,
I really don't think you need a bigger alternator. 200 amps is kinda overkill. You just need a better, more reliable one. Something that doesn't say Ford on it.
Unless you have some exotic stereo system that eats up a lot of power, a low 100's (stock rating) alt should be just fine.

Dana

 

[ygohome]

thanks dana,

yeah, I'll just leave it up to the guys at the shop to find a replacement instead of me buying a $350 alternator from mean green.