JHarris84

Here's a brief synopsis of what has occured over the last week:

Battery died, replaced it, started up my '98 XJ to find I was only charging at 11V... OK figured it was alternator.

Replaced alternator with 136 amp from AutoZone, fixed my problem for about 3 days, on the way home from work I lost all electrical power while driving, Jeep almost stalled out, then electrical power came back (out for around 1 sec) but I was only charging at 11V again... when I got home popped the hood to the smell of burning wires but nothing visibly wrong with battery connections etc. Alternator was hot to the touch though. Let it cool down restarted it still only 11V... went to sleep for about 5 hours. Went out to try to start it again before work and I get nothing now, not even a response when I turn key to on position. I am thinking it could be a bad ECU but I am not sure... any thoughts?

XJlimitedx99

Have you checked the grounds?

JackJare9455

crappy alternator out the box?
remove it and have it tested

JHarris84

I have not, but would a bad ground cause a complete drain over the course of 5 hours, and a sudden loss of power while driving even with with no symptoms before that?

JHarris84

That was my thought, but the no start, not evena crank over tonight is what is perplexing me

JHarris84

I brought the wife's car to work, and that's where I'm at now so no troubleshooting is going to happen until the morning just looking for ideas...

JHarris84

I don't know if it is worth mentioning as it may be related, but power locks and mirrors have not worked since I bought it 6 months ago, even tried replacing drivers side switch and fuses on that one and gave up as I have hands to manually lock doors wasn't a big deal to me, but with current problems could those symptoms point to ECU issues?

JackJare9455

a fried alternator while driving can drain a battery quick, sometimes a bad alternator will create a parasitic draw on your battery... I wouldn't pass up a bad alternator just yet without testing

have that battery tested while you are at it.

JHarris84

I was planning on pulling the alternator and taking down to AutoZone already called them about it, so that is in the works, didn't figure on the parasidic draw when nothing is turned on could be possible though... and while I'm at it just want to let anyone know who is planning on swapping in the 136A alternator, IT IS NOT A DIRECT FIT, found that out the hard way, plan on taking about a 1/4" of material out of the bracket the whole way around...

XJlimitedx99

I still vote for grounds. I had all sorts of funky issues with my jeep before I upgraded the grounds. Maybe look into doing a 4awg wire upgrade

JHarris84

Did you just replace the ground wire from the negative terminal to the body or did you replace the block grounds, and any other grounds I am missing ( I know of the ground from neg terminal to body, and there are two block to body grounds correct?)

Firestorm500

1. All positive and negative battery/starter cables should be replaced with heavier-than-stock gauge. Clean all mounting points. Don't buy them at Autozone.
Go to NAPA or O'Reilly's.

2. Autozone parts are notorious for failing. Pull it and have it tested. Buy your hard parts at NAPA or O'Reilly's.

3. If you had to grind on stuff, they could have given you a Durango alternator.

Rockhead

Hey JHarris84, my son had all sorts of weird issues with his 1996 until he found that the main ground needed cleaning and tightening. Good luck.

JHarris84

So looking at other threads would it worthwhile to go with one one 5-90's upgraded wiring kits? Or should I just do my own, as I am somewhat familiar with wiring (used to wire alot of stereo systems using 00G) and could it be possible that I blew the fusable link from the alternator to the fuse box? When I lost all electrical power I had headlights, fog lights on, wipers going, defroster on, and stereo on?

Fred/N0AZZ

The mod for the 136amp alt is well documented and yes the 5-90 wiring kit is well worth the money, I have both on mine.