[lasvegaskia]

I replaced 4 alternators on 2004 Kia Sedona v6. They charge for 1 min then blow out. I buy aftermarket from Oriel's store remanufactured. The van runs on the battery , so the battery and brake light did come on after weak battery voltage reaches low side , but now no light on dash come on. I have heard from a dealer I went to that there is some resistor in the line and if it is blown or burned up it will cause this problem Not the 10 AMP fuse or the 120 fuse , I mean in the wiring harness itself. Anyone know about that??? I know I can fix this but anyone have any ideas or had this situation??

 

[DavesSpectra]

I took some time to analyze your alternator circuitry and what could possibly be going wrong...
Your alternator (should be made by Hitachi) does not have a complete voltage regulator circuit... Half of it is located in the PCM (powertrain control module). The PCM has the ability to shut down the alternator's circuitry if necessary and it also provides a PWM signal that actually controls the voltage level coming out of the alternator...

PWM= pulse width modulation...PWM is very similar to your home light dimmers...

If this line by chance gets the full 12v from the battery instead of the much lower 1.5v PWM signal the alternator and/or the PCM may be permanently damaged... The "old" test of putting voltage on the "enable" line (to turn on the alternator) could be the cause of your problems...

Here's some info...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-YuNuTyh57XQ1NXTW5SVVRMREU/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-YuNuTyh57XTk81REgyaERQTXc/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-YuNuTyh57XdC00cUhlVDVwZTQ/edit?usp=sharing

You may have to replace the PCM (expensive at the dealer but reasonable at a salvage/junk yard)... It looks like you may have two different PCMs before 03/21/2003 and one after...so check the date of manufacture of the car on the driver's door label..

Go to ebay and search "2004 Sedona PCM".

I'd say the PCM is probably gone as the new alternators are getting fried from the wrong voltages coming from it...
Hope this helps... Keep us posted...
Dave

 

[lasvegaskia]

I took some time to analyze your alternator circuitry and what could possibly be going wrong...
Your alternator (should be made by Hitachi) does not have a complete voltage regulator circuit... Half of it is located in the PCM (powertrain control module). The PCM has the ability to shut down the alternator's circuitry if necessary and it also provides a PWM signal that actually controls the voltage level coming out of the alternator...

PWM= pulse width modulation...PWM is very similar to your home light dimmers...

If this line by chance gets the full 12v from the battery instead of the much lower 1.5v PWM signal the alternator and/or the PCM may be permanently damaged... The "old" test of putting voltage on the "enable" line (to turn on the alternator) could be the cause of your problems...

Here's some info...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-YuNuTyh57XQ1NXTW5SVVRMREU/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-YuNuTyh57XTk81REgyaERQTXc/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-YuNuTyh57XdC00cUhlVDVwZTQ/edit?usp=sharing

You may have to replace the PCM (expensive at the dealer but reasonable at a salvage/junk yard)... It looks like you may have two different PCMs before 03/21/2003 and one after...so check the date of manufacture of the car on the driver's door label..

Go to ebay and search "2004 Sedona PCM".

I'd say the PCM is probably gone as the new alternators are getting fried from the wrong voltages coming from it...
Hope this helps... Keep us posted...
Dave

...ok that would make sense since. I triple checked the wiring and harness I did a continuity test on bl/bl+wh wire from a diagram. Would I replace pcm on the transmission also?? The van runs on battery , everything works but battery and brake light NOT coming on when battery gets low or even when its fully charged battery.. what does happen the abs comes on radio goes out and of course if I shut van off from running.. battery is drained. battery is New interstate battery from Casco so I was hoping its not the resistor in the wiring harness somewhere. KDNUP vin 03/04 manufactured van

 

[DavesSpectra]

The PCM also controls the transmission functions...

The Battery light is also controlled by the PCM...

The PCM controls a lot of the car's drive train and displays..
It is also pretty sensitive to "probing" especially with 12 volt light probes and meters that output higher voltages when in continuity...

You could check the heavy wire that goes from the alternator to the 120A fuse (at the under the hood fuse box) and also the 120A fuse...BUT I really don't think the problem is there causing the replacement alternators to die... If that fuse blew or the wire was "open" the alternator would not die, it just wouldn't charge the battery.

Have you tried to register at "kiatechinfo.com" they have ALL the service info available there but it will take some time to locate what you may need...as some of the stuff is not in the areas you would logically think it would be (IE the alternator circuitry is located in the "starter" area..)
Dave

 

[DavesSpectra]

I just finished reading this about the FORD PCM controlled alternator...
Look at the second page...they made comments about replacing multiple O'reilly alternators (which I think you were trying to say " from Oriel's store")...

Part 1 -Ford P0620 Test -Alternator Diagnostic Test

You may have another bad BATCH of re-manufactored alternators...

O'Reillys, Advance and AutoZone both have lousy "remanufactored in MEXICO" alternators and starters ...Most of them DO NOT WORK... That's why they have a "Lifetime Warranty"..
You take them back UNTIL you get a good one...
The Mexican remanufactored alternators are only "repaired" and not truely remanufactored...

A TRUE remanufactored alternator will have
New Bearings...
New Bridge rectifier
New Regulator (in your case a partial regulator)
New Brushes
New insulating washers...
Then they are tested and burned in...

These Mexican rebuilts are repaired sometimes "if" they find an actual problem with it..
If they don't (if it's intermittent) they clean it up, paint it and ship it out... If you are the unlucky guy that gets one of these you spend hours replacing yours with another BAD one... The car parts dealer will "Happily" exchange the bad one with another that may be just as bad as they have very little money involved in the one they sold you...
AND this bad one will go through the same "quality control and repair" once again and some other unlucky guy will get the same problem...

Because they don't replace common failure parts like in a true remanufactored alternator this problem happens...

You might want to buy a NEW alternator or have yours rebuilt by a quality starter/alternator rebuilder...

Funny...my 06 and 07 KIA Spectras have alternators with the regulators built in... They are cheaper and not as "advanced" as your 04.
Dave

 

[lasvegaskia]

Found the problem

After a little more digging it turns out the blk wire crossover in the line was bad and had to replace the 6 inch wire and also the end piece on the alternator end of the wire was also in the line bad but could not tell buy just looking at it. Redid it and now works!! thanks guy for all the help .

 

[DavesSpectra]

Where in the harness was the wire bad? Close to the alternator? Any pictures?
Was it a broken wire, a corrosion problem, were the alternators actually at fault?
Glad you found the problem...
Dave