I'm leaning towards coincidence or bad luck, but is there anything that could cause a charging issue just from changing the spark plugs on a 2.0? I changed the plugs and the engine starts and runs smoothly, but the battery light immediately came on. Tested the voltage and the battery is at 12.4V with the vehicle off, but drops to 11.9V on start-up and dips to 11.5V when the fans kick in or some electronics are activated. After a short drive, voltage is down another .2-.3 from above. Definitely seems like an alternator issue. I've checked every connection I can see, but really all you're unplugging are the 2 ignition coils. I tried putting the old plugs back in, but there was no change. No CEL, just the battery light. Just bad luck, or could it somehow be related?
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Looks like a bad coincidence. Proteges are brutal on alternators. I've owned 3 over the years and I think this is alternator replacement number 5. -
Your alternator died. You can try removing the cables from the battery with the car running, the car will likely stall out quickly, which would confirm the dead alternator. You should be reading 14.4V with the engine running above idle.Comment
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