Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Fix my car - The answer

Here is the long awaited answer to my car's mystery symptoms, in particular the radio that only plays when the brake pedal is depressed.

The answer given by the mechanic following my car's failure to start is that the alternator he intalled 3 weeks earlier was producing too much power.

The way we figured it the radio includes some protective circuitry that shuts it off when too much voltage is received. By stepping on the brakes or turning on the A/C, the voltage must have been reduced to be within the allowable range and the radio started up. I don't know what accounts for the dead battery, unless it had a protective circuit that was more sensitive than the radio and it never received a charge.

The defective alternator was replaced at no charge.

Pun fully intended.

4 comments:

Dad29 said...

Overage, not underage.

Wow.

Michelina Douglass said...

Wow, that was strange indeed! It’s a good thing you had the car checked out again, and what’s even better is that the alternator was replaced at no cost. Hopefully, you haven’t experienced any other trouble with your car since it was fixed.

Bryan Meeks said...

It’s been years since this post. How is your car now? Good thing you acted on that problem immediately. It may be just a little or an odd problem, but too much power can do some serious damage on your vehicle. It is always best to heed your car’s call when it is talking to you.

Headless Blogger said...

It died an ugly death. Broken timing belt on a freeway.