If the alternator in your car stops working on you suddenly, you’re going to be in a world of trouble. Your alternator is responsible for helping to start your car, and it’s also in charge of providing power to your car’s electrical system. As a result, you’re not going to be able to use your car if your alternator isn’t working. In some instances, your alternator might go bad and need to be replaced altogether when it’s not working. But in others, you might just have an alternator fuse blown that’s preventing your alternator from doing its job. If that turns out to be the case, you’ll need to spring into action and replace it right away. Learn how to go about doing it below.
⚠️ If It's Broken, Don't Fix It - Get Paid Cash for Your Vehicle ⚠️
To Begin, What Exactly Is Your Alternator?
Before we get into talking about what you should do if you have an alternator fuse blown in your car, we want to spend some time touching on what exactly an alternator is. As we just mentioned, your car’s alternator is a very important part in your car, but not everyone is familiar with what it is and, more importantly, what it does. So let’s start there.
Your car’s alternator is a part that has two primary roles: It charges the battery in your car, and it sets your car’s electrical system up with the power that it needs. From the second that you climb into your car and turn your car key in your ignition, your alternator is going to be hard at work. It’ll provide the electricity that your starter needs to start your car up and then it’ll continue providing your car’s electrical system with electricity while also charging the battery at the same time.
If the alternator in your car isn’t working properly, you’re going to find that your car battery will drain way quicker than it should. You might be able to get away with driving a car with a bad alternator for a little while, but it usually won’t be long before it stops producing the power that your battery and your electrical system need. It’s why you need to keep your alternator in great condition. It’s also why you need to be worried if you ever have an alternator fuse blown.
How Can You Tell If You Have an Alternator Fuse Blown?
Now that you know what an alternator is and how it works to power up your car, let’s get into the alternator fuse and the role that it plays. Although all cars don’t have an alternator fuse in them, the vast majority of them do. Alternator fuses are put into place to allow an alternator to operate. They’re small fuses found in the fuse boxes of cars that control alternators and help to keep them up and running.
Over time, though, you could very well discover that you have an alternator fuse blown in your car, and it’ll be pretty easy to tell when this happens. Your alternator will typically stop working when the fuse for it has blown. The fuse might blow because of old age, and it might blow because of a power surge within your car. Either way, you’re going to have no choice to replace a fuse when you have an alternator fuse blown.
The good news is that replacing a blown alternator fuse is a whole lot easier than replacing the alternator itself. It’s also a lot less expensive, which is why most people pray that they’re only dealing with an alternator fuse blown when they’re experiencing alternator issues. If you believe that your alternator fuse is blown and causing problems with your alternator, you should replace it right away to see if that does the trick.
What Are the Steps You’ll Need to Take to Replace a Blown Alternator Fuse?
The physical act of replacing a blown alternator fuse is one of simplest auto repair jobs around. Replacing any blown fuse is actually very easy and doesn’t require much skill or technical know-how. But we should point out that there are usually upwards of 40 fuses in the average fuse box in a car these days. That can make replacing a blown alternator fuse slightly more challenging than it used to be. Still, you should be able to get the job done in no time as long as you take the right steps. Here are the five steps that you’ll want to take when you have an alternator fuse blown in your vehicle.
Step 1: Purchase a new alternator fuse for your car.
The first thing that you’ll want to do when you have an alternator fuse blown in your car is pick up a new alternator fuse for it. You might not have a wealth of experience when it comes to buying fuses for your car, but fortunately, it’s not difficult to find one. You can either visit any auto parts store and ask them to provide you with an alternator fuse for your specific make and model car or order an alternator fuse online.
Step 2: Use the owner’s manual for your car to find out where your alternator fuse is located.
When was the last time you pulled out the owner’s manual for your car and flipped through it? If it’s been awhile since you’ve done it, you should locate it and look through it until you find the section about your car’s fuse box. This is the only surefire way to find out which of the fuses in your car is connected to your alternator.
Once you track down the section in your owner’s manual devoted to your fuse box, it should point you in the right direction as far as where your alternator fuse is positioned. There should be a diagram set up that shows you exactly where your alternator fuse is at. The diagram should also alert you to the positioning of other fuses in your fuse box. You might need to get access to them at a later date if any of them are ever blown, so don’t be afraid to earmark this section in your owner’s manual for future reference.
Step 3: Find the fuse box in your car and open it up.
After you know where the alternator fuse is located in your fuse box, the next order of business is going to be finding the fuse box itself. The fuse box in a car can be situated in any number of different places. In some instances, you’ll be able to find the fuse box under your hood. But in others, you might have to look underneath a seat or in a compartment underneath the steering wheel in your car. You should, once again, be able to find it by consulting your owner’s manual.
Once you’ve found your fuse box, you’ll want to unclip the cover for it using either your fingers or potentially even a small screwdriver. That should be enough to get the fuse box open so that you can gain access to your alternator fuse and replace it. Just be gentle with the fuse box cover since you obviously don’t want to snap any part of it off and have trouble closing it back up later.
Step 4: Remove your alternator fuse.
At this point, you’ll have the fuse box for your car opened up and you’ll know where your alternator fuse is located. You’ll be able to find it and then remove it from the fuse box with ease. You can typically remove an alternator fuse with your fingers, but just like with your fuse box, you may have to turn to a screwdriver for help. The goal will be to pry it out of your fuse box without doing any damage to it or to the alternator fuse itself.
Prior to removing your alternator fuse for good and replacing it with a new one, check to see that you have an alternator fuse blown and not an alternator fuse that’s still in good shape. If your fuse still seems to be in working condition, you might have to go back to square one and try to find out if there’s something else wrong with your alternator.
Step 5: Put a new alternator fuse in your car in place of your blown one.
As long as you can see that your alternator fuse is, in fact, blown and in need of replacement, you can go ahead and replace it with the new one that you just bought. But before you do, look at the fuse rating located on the side of your old alternator fuse. You’re going to want to make sure that the fuse rating on your old alternator fuse is the same as the fuse rating on your new one.
If the fuse ratings on your old and new alternator fuses match, then you’ll be good to go when it comes to replacing your alternator fuse. You can push your new fuse into the slot where your old fuse was located and then cover your fuse box back up. This should complete the process of replacing your blown alternator fuse.
Should You Replace a Blown Alternator Fuse Yourself?
If you know that you have an alternator fuse blown in your car, you could take it to a mechanic to have them look at it. But more often than not, this is an auto repair job that you’re going to want to tackle yourself. Why pay a bunch of money to someone else to replace your blown alternator fuse when you could do it yourself for next to nothing?
That being said, you might not want to do this particular auto repair job if you don’t feel comfortable working with fuses. You might also want to skip doing it if you don’t have the motor skills to remove and replace fuses. It’s not a job that everyone is cut out for, and you could end up doing more harm than good if you don’t replace a blown alternator fuse in the right way.
But generally speaking, there isn’t anything all that difficult about doing blown alternator fuse replacement. You can usually complete the job in a matter of just minutes and be on your way in no time.
How Much Does Alternator Fuse Replacement Cost?
When people hear that they have to replace an alternator fuse when they have an alternator fuse blown in their car, they sometimes start to panic. It sounds like it would be a pretty expensive job, doesn’t it? But the truth is that the average car fuse is only going to cost you $20 or so, if that. It’s a big part of the reason why you should try to replace a blown alternator fuse on your own. It won’t cost you much money at all to do it.
Even if you have to replace a fuse when you have an alternator fuse blown, though, it still should be a relatively inexpensive job. Most auto repair shops will replace the alternator fuse in your car for under $100, depending on what type of car you have.
What If Your Alternator Still Isn’t Working After You Replace an Alternator Fuse?
If you go through the trouble of replacing a blown alternator fuse and find that you’re still experiencing issues with your alternator, that’s when you’re going to want to call on the professionals for help. You could have something else wrong with your alternator at that point. Rather than continuing to try and fix your car yourself, you should reach out to an ASE-certified mechanic and have them inspect and potentially replace your alternator for you.
Can You Sell a Car With an Alternator Fuse Blown?
Those with an alternator fuse blown in their car won’t usually have to consider selling their car as a result of it. But if it’s one of the many problems that you’re dealing with when it comes to your car right now and you don’t have the time or money to fix it, you should know that you can still sell your car if you want to. There are junk car buyers that will purchase your car from you for top dollar and give you a great deal for it.
Want to see how much your old car could be worth despite the bad alternator fuse in it and all the other issues with it? Cash Cars Buyer can make you an offer, even if you have an alternator fuse blown. Contact us now to see how much cash you might be able to collect for your vehicle.