Help with the infamous alternator

yano · Post by **yano** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:53 pm

Hey, I noticed a weird high pitched noise coming from my car yesterday. So i pulled it over and it seems like my alternator is shitting itself on me. Any other thoughts on what this could be?? Noise is definitly coming from around the alternator location.... Also does anyone know any decent auto electricians around the southside of brisbane that'd do a recon on it cheap

Cheers

maggsy · Post by **maggsy** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:47 pm

could it be one of your belts slipping?

yano · Post by **yano** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:10 pm

I had a good look at it but the belts seems to be running fine but then again I'm not a mechanic so i could be wrong....

Post by **vipfto** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:34 am

Try to tighten tension on belt using adjuster should be easy to locate near to top of tensioner, belt should be fairly tight and be able to twist around 90deg at slackest point.
they tend to squeal when there is a lot of moisture too
or belt may need replacing

Post by **kazbah** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:16 am

If your altenator is on the way out, you will notice the volt meter needle dipping when you have a number of electricals running, ie wipers, lights, aircon.

Post by **I8A4RE** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:15 pm

Yeah mine is starting to get rooted again (its been less than 1yr). Last time i rang JnR and they said they are no longer doing these, go to steve mac electrical(i think). $400 dollars later and it hardly lasted 8 months. Ben where did you get yours recond cause im thinking about sending mine down there unless someone knows somewhere up that can actually do a good job???????/

yano · Post by **yano** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:34 pm

hey i got my car checked over and turns out the serpentine belt needed replacing. 170bucks later and the noise is gone

. Kinda feel I got ripped for a stupid belt and the bearing lubricated. What do you guys think??

Post by **I8A4RE** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:03 am

Sounds like a ripp off to me those belts are like $20 30mins labour (extremely generous). Should cost more like $50-60 bucks thats highway robbery

yano · Post by **yano** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:37 pm

sh*t

Won't be going back there again!! Cheers for the heads up!!

Post by **I8A4RE** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:52 am

No worries man, dont feel bad though i have heard of bigger rip offs

oodLes · Post by **oodLes** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:50 pm

Dipping eh?

Mine doesn't dip at all running the aircon, ICE, etc but as soon as I use an indicator it starts dipping with each blink. Is that a sign its close to going?

maggsy · Post by **maggsy** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:56 pm

mine dips with each indicator blink as well and it also happens when the lights turn on

i don't think it means its failing though it's just using power.

Post by **I8A4RE** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:03 pm

In theroy the indicators should not make it fluctuate at all. if any of you guys own a multi-meter check your voltage as it may just be a power loss to the actual meter not that your alternator is dipping, does that make any sense. if not maggsy you can come round to mine and ill check it for you

maggsy · Post by **maggsy** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:19 pm

it only dips by about 2mm, so i just figure that it was draining power from the meter like you said.

yano · Post by **yano** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:31 pm

Turns out the belt they changed was an OEM mitsu one so that might explain the rip off in price. Weird thing now is that my steering gets a bit heavy every now and again and also some times when i reach full lock the car stalls!!!

wth???

Also with the volts, just as long as it's not dipping under 12 and that it'll sometimes go on 14 you should be alright. 14 means it on charge and just remember to top up your battery

Post by **I8A4RE** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:09 pm

put car in D, put on air con, and full beams. Dash voltmeter dropped to 10volts. Put handbrake on and went and checked battery with volt meter, charging about 12.5 volts. So meter is not working properly for some reason. But when i turn off all accesories and check with volt meter again it reads about 14.3 volts.

So the charger is definitly struggling with accessories on and its not alternator...... F*$ks me wats wrong