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I have a chance to pick up a 1989 Trooper, 170K, for $400 obo, and the owner said 'not sure what happend to it but just stopped one day'. I asked him if it had a 4 or 6 in it, and he said 'I was driving home from school and the battery light went on and steering wheel froze... it turns over every now and then'. He did not say how fast he was going at the time. Any ideas? I had 91 Trooper that kinda did the same thing - alternator went out(bearing), which stopped it dead, caused it to act like the starter or timing went. Replaced the alternator and solved the problem. Think it might be something simple, or a expensive fix?
Thanks,
Jim Welsh


Sounds like a classic seized bearing on the Alt. The steering froze cause he lost power steering due to the seized alt. and he wasn't strong enough to turn the wheel manually. Like what was said. If pull the belt off, see if it starts (the battery is probably dead at this point though) If it starts, Replace the alt and drive it home or throw it on a trailer and fix it later.

-Chad