How long does a car run with a bad alternator?

If most consumers of electrical energy (headlights, AC, blower motor and so on) are off, a car could run for 5-60 minutes if it has a gasoline engine. If the car has a diesel engine, the runtime is extended to from 30 minutes to a couple of hours.

What should the voltage of a car alternator be?

A healthy, fully charged battery should have a voltage of 12.3-12.6V. Anything below 12.3V could indicate a bad battery or a bad alternator. Time to test the battery under load.

Can a car alternator charge a dead battery?

The alternator can charge car batteries but having your alternator charge a completely dead battery is bad for your alternator. If you wanted to try to keep the battery, you still have instead of investing in a newer battery. There is a way you could save it, and that is by using a trickle charger.

What to do if your alternator is broken in your car?

Clean the posts and the terminals and reconnect the terminals so that they’re in at least a slightly different position from where they are now and quite tight. Additionally, make sure that they battery is still capable of even holding a charge. Either of these are as likely suspects as the alternator and a lot cheaper to correct.

How many miles can I drive with no alternator?

Usually when the Alt is totally dead you can only get one trip out of it. So it really depends on how much of the battery you drain on each run. 30-40 miles on a dead alt will probably be all you get. I wouldn’t turn the car off if i were you. Loading… Ok, I just put 8 miles on it driving to work.

A healthy, fully charged battery should have a voltage of 12.3-12.6V. Anything below 12.3V could indicate a bad battery or a bad alternator. Time to test the battery under load.