Cruise and Alternator quit at same time
Hello All,
Just wanted to pass along some additional information. I recently bought a 2014 Turbo Veloster (30k miles) and was halfway through an 800 mile trip, when I experienced the same issue. I had purchased a aftermarket heads up display, which shows your vehicle speed on the dash and had wanted to see the engine operating temperature, since this vehicle only has an "idiot" light. To my surprise, the engine runs at 176 degrees, which is much lower than the typical 190-205 of my other vehicles. One of the other settings on the heads up display is you can see the voltage. My cruise worked fine for 3 1/2 hours, when I stopped to fill up with gas. When the cruise would turn on but not set, I noticed that the alternator dropped from 14.2 volts to 12.5, which is just showing the standing voltage of the battery. I turned off the stereo, ac and all lights, to see if it might start charging again and it did not. I stopped to make sure the belt was not loose or that I could not see anything else wrong under the hood. Fortunately the alternator is mounted on top of the engine and you can easily see all of the connections and the belt. Everything looked good and when I started the car back up, the alternator came back up to 14.2 volts and the cruise began working again. About 10 minutes down the highway, the alternator quit working again and the cruise would not set again. Stopping and starting the vehicle would only temporarily help as each time the alternator would quit, within 10 minutes. I knew I wouldn't make it the rest of the trip on battery power alone, so I fortunately found an Autozone and bought a new battery, in case mine completely drained down. Sure enough, when the worker did a test on my battery and alternator, everything showed normal as it did on my heads up display, since the car had been turned off and restarted. As I started to drive off, I stopped and decided to install the new battery, to try to save my original battery as I knew that totally discharging a battery will typical ruin the battery. The alternator charged at 14 volts and the cruise worked, so I thought my problem may have been a weak battery, causing the alternator to overcharge (14.2 volts) and shutting it down. With the new battery, the alternator never charged over 14 volts. Two hours later I stopped to eat and within 10 minutes of starting back on the road, the alternator and cruise quit again. I stopped and disconnected the negative battery cable for a few minutes and then reinstalled it. No further issues for the remainder of the 3 hour trip.
I dread going to the dealer, because I know they will tell me there isn't anything wrong, although I know it is some type of electrical issue. I don't think it is the alternator, since typically once they quit, they don't start working again. I am going to try to make it back home, travelling by day, to not use up battery and having the spare battery. Once I get back home, I will go to the dealer and hope they will correct the issue, since I now have additional information.
I will update if I determine what is causing this problem.