2004 Ford Focus Factory Stereo - Does the mechanic know what hes talking about?

[FuzzeWuzze]

Hello,

I'm new here and to car audio in general, but im very familiar with electronics/electricity when it comes to 120V/240V main power, not so much car's so i have a few questions.

My wife has a 2004 Ford Focus with factory radio, long before i met her apparently her car repeatedly had alternators go out, like 3 in a year. Her mechanic at the time eventually tracked it down and told her it was because of her stereo, disconnected it and the problem seemed to go away. Keep in mind this was probably when the car was only 5-6 years old. She's been living with a car with no stereo ever since.

First question, does what the mechanic said and did make any sense? Is it feasible for radios to drain the battery so much they could screw up alternators? Like i said i dont know much about cars but that seems highly improbable.

Second question, assuming the mechanic is full of it, and i went in and hooked up her radio, is there anything i can measure with a multimeter/amp meter to verify its probably not at fault for any power issues?

My thought is to just rip the stupid thing out, buy a double->single din mount, throw a cheap $30 bluetooth deck from Amazon in and be done with it. But in the back of my head i cant help but wonder if there's a larger electrical issue just being masked by no radio being plugged in? I realize that's more of a car electrical question, but just thought i'd throw it out there in case its something you guys are familiar with happening.

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[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

No way a factory radio was causing the alternator issue. I ran 4k watts rms on a factory alternator and 2 batteries for about a year with zero issues.

Either the alts were cheap quality (not motorcraft?) or there is some other odd issue going on IMO.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

No way a factory radio was causing the alternator issue. I ran 4k watts rms on a factory alternator and 2 batteries for about a year with zero issues.
Either the alts were cheap quality (not motorcraft?) or there is some other odd issue going on IMO.

Yea like i said this was years before i met her, so i have no context on her discussions or if she is even telling me what the mechanic actually told her years ago since its all way over her head. She was dirt broke at the time(hence no replacing radio) so i can see them putting cheap crap in, but have no idea.

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Yea like i said this was years before i met her, so i have no context on her discussions or if she is even telling me what the mechanic actually told her years ago since its all way over her head. She was dirt broke at the time(hence no replacing radio) so i can see them putting cheap crap in, but have no idea.

I personally would put a nice single din in it for her.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

And who knows if those other alts put in earlier at the time were on the fritz also....which you say is hard to determine w/o actual physical evidence. Sounds to me the mechanic was gaining business/ scamming her. I wouldn't go back. Agree with popwarhomie...there's no fkin way an alt or more could go out on a factory radio....the mechanic is full of ****.

 

[Darth_Immitis]

My focus is fine on a stock alt running 1kw

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

No way a factory radio was causing the alternator issue. I ran 4k watts rms on a factory alternator and 2 batteries for about a year with zero issues.
Either the alts were cheap quality (not motorcraft?) or there is some other odd issue going on IMO.

And who knows if those other alts put in earlier at the time were on the fritz also....which you say is hard to determine w/o actual physical evidence. Sounds to me the mechanic was gaining business/ scamming her. I wouldn't go back. Agree with popwarhomie...there's no fkin way an alt or more could go out on a factory radio....the mechanic is full of ****.

My focus is fine on a stock alt running 1kw

Does it change anything if it was her battery dying?

She honestly doesnt remember at this point.

It seems more feasible that a radio even when the car is turned off could possibly drain a battery? Is that a "common" thing at all with a faulty stereo, or possibly car wiring?

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Bad battery can deff screw up the alternator.

You could have a parasitic drain causing the battery to die but I don't think it would keep killing alts. Just batteries.

But if the car is 100% stock I don't think you would have an issue. Mostly happens when people start messing with wiring.

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

i had alt problems draining batt.. it was just bad alt (had a short in it, drained batt at night) it's possible she just got bad alts but sound like a short somewhere.. i wonder if it's some wire either on radio or even speaker wire grounding on metal, i had bare speaker wire touching metal under rear seat on a 99 altima made dome light stay on took me 2 days to figure it out.... my new alt was from autozone or advance had it 3 yrs, works fine but sometimes u do have to get 3 to get a good one..

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

i had alt problems draining batt.. it was just bad alt (had a short in it, drained batt at night) it's possible she just got bad alts but sound like a short somewhere.. i wonder if it's some wire either on radio or even speaker wire grounding on metal, i had bare speaker wire touching metal under rear seat on a 99 altima made dome light stay on took me 2 days to figure it out.... my new alt was from autozone or advance had it 3 yrs, works fine but sometimes u do have to get 3 to get a good one..

How would i go about figuring out if it was a short? Just continuity test between each wire in the plug vs ground? Like i said i'm not that familiar with car wiring, just electronics in general.

One thing i noticed yesterday when taking out the radio is that they ONLY unplugged what i believe is the power connector, there were still two other plugs still connected to the radio. Which i assume are the speakers and something else?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Does it change anything if it was her battery dying? She honestly doesnt remember at this point.

It seems more feasible that a radio even when the car is turned off could possibly drain a battery? Is that a "common" thing at all with a faulty stereo, or possibly car wiring?

Possibly, but again, many folks here run 1000W+ stereo systems on factory electrical and provided everything is in working order they do OK. Will it shorten life of alternator, sure, but we're talking 5 years instead of 10 years, not dead in a few weeks/months. My guess is they replaced her alt with some cheap part's store remanufactured ones that were DOA or did something else terribly wrong in the install, or found another issue that finally fixed the problem and just made something up to charge her more money to cover their fuxups.

Ditto, weak battery will work the alternator harder, but if an alt is failing in a few weeks anything "wrong with the wiring" in the car drawing enough current to do that would either open fuses or burn the car down. If you're concerned with it, just set your multimeter to DC current, stick the ends in the empty fuse slots for the radio and see what it draws with the radio off or on and running at normal levels.