While driving with a friend his alternator died on his 2000 s430. He continued to drive the vehicle home which was aprox 10 miles away. I told him he should just pull over and have the car towed. I heard somewhere that driving a vehicle like this is very bad for the cars electrical componets. Is this true. What kind of damage can be caused to the car by driving it around with a dead alternator.
Your not going to cause damage by having a dead alternator. The only "bad" thing that will happen is youll drain all the charge in your battery and have to recharge it.
How did you know the alternator "died"?
__________________ 2000 Mercedes Benz S500 Designo (Production date 7/99)
Last edited by cameraman123 : 11-12-2009 at 07:28 PM.
It should say "Battery Charge Error" See workshop
Call the dealer, I replaced mine on an '02 S430 and when I brought my car in for the cluster replacement there was an "unknown" recall and the dealer replaced my alternator with voltage regulator.
In these cars, systems will start shutting off as voltage drops. That even includes the transmission. Ten miles is no big deal,though, so long as the battery is healthy.
Of course that also assumes it is the alternator; if it's the belt drive system then that also would quickly lead to overheating.
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