Another Battery Light question - varying voltage after pigtail replace

[rodnig1]

Read most of the posts related to the typical alternator/battery light problems. But I just wanted to put my issue out there as well, and get some additional feedback.

My focus is a 2002 ZTS with the 2.0 engine.

A few months ago, I had the battery light come on while driving home at night in the rain, but it went off after about 10 minutes. Its done it a couple more times since. Then, a couple weeks ago we had a major rain storm come though(Sandy, but all we got was rain and wind where I live). The battery light came on once again, and mostly stayed on(randomly going out for a minute at a time). It comes on after running for about 20 seconds. I am fairly mechanical, but decided that I didn’t want to mess with replacing the 3 wire pigtail, and took it to the ford dealer right next to my house. I explained what I thought was needed, and they tested everything and agreed. $200 later they replaced the pigtail, and now the light is on all the time.

Last night I wanted to test the voltage, and discovered that the voltage at the battery is 14.3 unless I have the headlights on, then its down around 12.4. if I rev the engine up with the headlights on, it goes up to around 14.4. If im running it with the headlights off, and the heater on 3, then its around 13.4.

I am looking for clarity on this, as the car is going back to the dealer tomorrow and want to have a few opinions from some of you experts out there. I believe that they may have some of the wiring wrong on the pigtail, and that’s what could be causing this, or could it be the alternator or PCU??

Thanks in advance
Rodney

[rodnig1]

and Fuse 10 under the hood is fine

[rodnig1]

seriously?

i thought i would get some input from the experts here

[iminhell]

Would sound like the pigtail is wired wrong.
If it's going back to Ford though, let them deal with it ...

[mikeeshaq]

"""discovered that the voltage at the battery is 14.3 unless I have the headlights on, then its down around 12.4."""

I believe the alternator is bad but like the previous poster stated 'let Ford deal with it'

[rodnig1]

The dealer claims that it needs an alternator, and with all the horror stories I hear about aftermarket alternators I'm just having them do it.

I'm not happy about paying $100 for a battery, $200 for the pigtail replacement and another $550 for the alternator!! This is crazy!

[qweesy]

200$ for pigtail replacement?????!!! That's a 30$ DIY job man, for alternators check out DB electrical you can get a HO alternator for $200 also clean the contacts of the Engine management fuse.

[rodnig1]

typically i would tackle the wiring, and alternator myself, but have been really pressed for time, and lots of other projects have taken priority. So, was kind of under the gun to get this taken care of.

the good news is that this focus is running better than it has in a long time, and the engine actually feels stronger now? the engine was running a little low on power in the past, and would really bog down anytime the a/c compressor kicked in. Now i cant even tell when it comes on.