Accessory testing
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,344
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Accessory testing
Just curious. How many times have you taken your starter, alternator, battery to have tested and have it pass? Personally I can't think of anything passing the stores bench test.
MSEE
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 10,386
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From: Austin, TX
I've had stuff pass before. What's bad is when things pass and they're actually bad, because you rule it out when you really shouldn't. It's hard for those test benches to be accurate because all too often, a problem only occurs under certain conditions, and heat is a big factor. If you take in something that only fails after you've been driving a while and it's hot, then it probably won't test bad on the machine because it's out of the truck and you're bringing it in yourself.
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jan 2005
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Likes: 1
Originally Posted by fmc400
I've had stuff pass before. What's bad is when things pass and they're actually bad, because you rule it out when you really shouldn't. It's hard for those test benches to be accurate because all too often, a problem only occurs under certain conditions, and heat is a big factor. If you take in something that only fails after you've been driving a while and it's hot, then it probably won't test bad on the machine because it's out of the truck and you're bringing it in yourself.
Here's an example of what I went through with the store checking stuff on the car.
Last summer the Grand Prix didn't want to start. Charged the battery and it worked fine for a couple weeks. Again it refused to start. Charged the battery again, drove it to the auto parts store. After they came out and checked the charging system, they said the alternator was bad. I proceeded to follow that advice and changed it. Worked fine for a couple weeks. This time I took the fender brace off, the window washer tank out and looked at the battery. It was bone dry of water. It got replaced with a new "don't add water" one. I wonder if the alternator was really bad, or if the guy just wanted to make a sale. It's no wonder that the battery was dry, as it's buried under all the above stuff. I don't know of any one who would take all that stuff off just to check the water.
