Alternator 2006 S60 R; also Chicago area shop recommendations? [ How long can I run a P2 on just a battery]

[erikv11]

Daughter and her husband on a weekend trip, dash lights up with low power message and battery icon. Oh also ABS shuts off, not surprising. Still drives okay so they drive to an auto parts store to test the charging system. Parts guys say the battery is fine (12.7 V) but the alternator is only putting out 11.9 volts. Drove the car another 25 miles back to the hotel, light is on else drives okay.

Bought a 10A plug-in charger, charged battery at the hotel.

They are now 244 miles from home so tomorrow they will try driving it an hour at a time, then stop and recharge the battery, see if they can limp it home. If that fails they have AAA towing for 200 miles radius. When they get this car back home it apparently needs a new alternator.

I won't be able to do the work but if we have any say, what brand alternator are people happy with these days? New Bosch? I doubt rebuilding will be an option but we'll see. If we get a new one I can at least keep the core and see about a rebuild later. Anyway, parts recommendations welcome.

I don't now of a preferred shop where they live in Chicago, any suggestions? The car will be near West Loop but any known, good shop in the area would be good to hear of otherwise I'll get on the phone Monday and try sniff out a decent one.

[abscate]

I think I have an 11 year promise to MVS to measure the housekeeping amp load on a P80 and a P2 , I think it’s in the order of 8- amps

Thst gives 80 amp hour/10 amps = 8 hours cruise time, divided by 2 for holding good bus voltage = 4 hours cruise day time, everything off. I’ll bet reality is about 2 hours cruise, which will get them to lunch time and a 2 hour charge, should get them home?

Please do give us the trip report for our posteriors

[erikv11]

They picked up a $15 Walmart voltmeter and $60 Schumacher 10A charge to limp home with.

First leg they started at 12.40 volts at the battery (did not get it fully charged from the previous day, oops), started car drove 45 minutes, car was running fine but they pulled off the highway to check voltage, dropped to 11.74. Put it back on the charger.

Charged back up for an hour, to 12.24 (wish they had waited another hour to get it higher!), started out again, planning to go another 50 minutes.

Using the voltmeter they figured out the charger is "smart" it only runs just above the battery voltage, so it doesn't charge as quickly as you might expect for a 10A charger. It says 2A/10A on the box but you can't choose the charging rate, it's all decided by circuitry.

I do wonder if the drop to 11.7 actually just matches what they had the alternator check at yesterday, i.e. it is using up the battery then levels out at 11.7 on the reduced alternator supply. Couldn't get them to measure voltage from inside the car on the phone-charger socket e.g.

[cn90]

How many miles in their 2006 S60R?

Most Bosch alternators are rebuilt (X), a few are new (N).
The rebuilt quality is inconsistent.

If you can find a Bosch AL0854N, then go for it.

Otherwise search eBay for Genuine Volvo alternator with low mileage (< 100K miles).

I only buy from eBay seller with proper VIN tag and clearly states the mileage.

This is a good example of alternator with only 70K miles.

PS: sometimes one can replace just the VR...

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[erikv11]

They went 50 minutes, ABS turned on but car driving fine, pulled over, battery now reading 11.01 V. In the interest of time they are going to use an AAA tow now, because they are within radius (130 miles from shop, 160 miles from home).

Unfortunately I can't fix this one myself, can't get to the car. Hopefully I can get the shop to use the alternator of my choice.

How many miles in their 2006 S60R?

Most Bosch alternators are rebuilt (X), a few are new (N).
The rebuilt quality is inconsistent.

If you can find a Bosch AL0854N, then go for it.

...

Thanks for this post!

So far I see Bosch AL0832N (new) on several sites, what is the advantage of Bosch AL0854N?

According to these links:
https://partshawk.com/bosch-al0832n-alt ... CLWnfRjY7E
https://partshawk.com/bosch-al0886n-alt ... LXRBII3pXK

one turns clockwise, the other counterclockwise, so they wouldn't be interchangeable?? No time for me to search the Bosch links right now for specs ...

The car has 185k on the original alternator.

[cn90]

P2 is CCW rotation.

Alternator lifepsan is 150K-200K, so 185K is about right.
Likely just the VR but at that odo reading, get a good used alternator.

AL0854N = 140A type
AL0832N = 160A type

Just find out what is in the car and replace with the same amperage.

[abscate]

added info to title for search on the next person who needs to know how to long one can cruise on battery only

Upshot 1-2 hours daytime with good battery

[volvolugnut]

They went 50 minutes, ABS turned on but car driving fine, pulled over, battery now reading 11.01 V. In the interest of time they are going to use an AAA tow now, because they are within radius (130 miles from shop, 160 miles from home).

Unfortunately I can't fix this one myself, can't get to the car. Hopefully I can get the shop to use the alternator of my choice.

How many miles in their 2006 S60R?

Most Bosch alternators are rebuilt (X), a few are new (N).
The rebuilt quality is inconsistent.

If you can find a Bosch AL0854N, then go for it.

...

Thanks for this post!

So far I see Bosch AL0832N (new) on several sites, what is the advantage of Bosch AL0854N?

According to these links:
https://partshawk.com/bosch-al0832n-alt ... CLWnfRjY7E
https://partshawk.com/bosch-al0886n-alt ... LXRBII3pXK

one turns clockwise, the other counterclockwise, so they wouldn't be interchangeable?? No time for me to search the Bosch links right now for specs ...

The car has 185k on the original alternator.

Was the A/c and fan running during the drive? I think this would draw a significant current and change the drive time.
volvolugnut

[cn90]

For most of these P2 cars, at this age/mileage, on long trips, it maybe a good idea to carry a spare VR (Bosch).

The VR can be installed in situ, from what I gather.

[erikv11]

I would say you can drive one hour this way on the highway then need a couple hours to recharge the battery. Maybe less time for the recharge if you have a higher amp charger. I suspect even with this regime we damaged the battery, will post up about that later.

This is with the car driven with no accessories running. No AC, headlight switch in the middle position so no headlights just running lights. No radio, no wipers, no anything from the climate control, no seat heaters , just drive.

Another useful data point is that the car ran okay with the battery charge as low as 11 V, that's when the ABS light would come up and presumably other systems would have started complaining, but from 12.5 V down to 11 V it was perfectly drivable.

My other two P2 cars are each at 200k and on their factory alternators, take that FWIW.