I did it

L

Lick

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Im a bad bad man. I changed the alternator all by my lonesome. Thats right. Yeeeep, thats right. Thats the first thing I have ever done under the hood on any of my cars. Not bad at all. If I can do it any one can. However I still have a question. The alternator was whining the day before my car did not start, the belt feels tight but could it possibley be the belt tensioner? It was a high power 200 amp alt. that had a smaller diameter pulley on it, would that affect anything? Sunday the alt. gets tested.
 
RE: I did it

It's a good idea to change the belt when doing the alternator, unless it just doesn't need replacing. Anytime I'm under there replacing parts and need to remove the belt, I inspect it and replace it if it shows obvious signs of aging.

The smaller pulley would spin faster which would affect current output as well as HP. Whether or not it makes a "real world" difference has yet to be seen. Pump up the stereo while sitting at a light one night. If the lights dim on each bass kick when they didn't before, you know the old alternator worked a little better.

Kale
 
RE: I did it

Congrats! I konw everytime I get to the next level of service I feel accomplishment.... though, after pulling engines/trans, it kinda goes down hill....

I noticed one time I put my mark back together it whined. I just took the belt loose and reseated it on all the accessories and retensioned it and it didn't whine anymore... I didn't find anything misaligned or not on, but it fixed the problem....

Scott
 
RE: I did it

I know in GM land the alternator will whine pretty bad when there's a strong current draw (dead batt, jump starting, etc...)

That the kind of whine you're talking about? Never heard it on any of my Fords - it's the power steering pump drowning it out I guess.
 
RE: I did it

Yeah thats probably the whine. It was the alternator, it was only putting out 9 to 10 volts. The stock alt. will do fine until I can get the bad one repaired.
 
RE: I did it

i pull some serious power from both the corvette, and truck... Ive never heard the alternator whine under high load, and by high load i mean double the peak output of the alt. ????????
 
RE: I did it

Damn Ken. Now I'm the only left who doesn't work on their car.
Click to expand...

No Scott - I've decided that your way of drinking a beer and supervising is much easier than actually doing anything myself. :)
 
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