Alternator death syndrome
07-27-2006, 12:29 PM
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Alternator death syndrome I'm seeing symptoms of a bad alternator, the volts getting lower and lower. My idle is normal and it drives fine. I'm on the 2nd replaced alternator in the last 3 weeks, thanks to Autozone lifetime warranty.
It all started when I did a timing chain replacement about 3 weeks ago. Everything ran fine afterwards. A week later, "Check Gages" comes on and I'm running on 12 volts. I took the alternator to Autozone (bought from them 3 years prior) and failed, got a new one, ran good. A week later, same thing happened, replaced again. It's now the end of the week since the last replacement and today my volts are waving around 13, was holding 14-15 yesterday. I think it's going to go on the way home from work.
What could possibly be wrong? I didn't touch the alternator or any wiring during the timing chain work. I just disconnected the battery during the work.
When replacing the alternators, I took care to keep the positive terminal tight and used a lock washer, the wire harness is plugged in, and the power steering pump doesn't seem to be leaking on it at all.
I searched around, and the typical answer is "autozone sucks" and "check the harness wire is plugged in, not broken". Any other thoughts?
It all started when I did a timing chain replacement about 3 weeks ago. Everything ran fine afterwards. A week later, "Check Gages" comes on and I'm running on 12 volts. I took the alternator to Autozone (bought from them 3 years prior) and failed, got a new one, ran good. A week later, same thing happened, replaced again. It's now the end of the week since the last replacement and today my volts are waving around 13, was holding 14-15 yesterday. I think it's going to go on the way home from work.
What could possibly be wrong? I didn't touch the alternator or any wiring during the timing chain work. I just disconnected the battery during the work.
When replacing the alternators, I took care to keep the positive terminal tight and used a lock washer, the wire harness is plugged in, and the power steering pump doesn't seem to be leaking on it at all.
I searched around, and the typical answer is "autozone sucks" and "check the harness wire is plugged in, not broken". Any other thoughts?
07-27-2006, 12:52 PM
#2
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Buddy of mine recently went through the same thing - two "remanufactured" auto parts store alts failed to fix it - bought a new GM unit and fine ever since.
07-27-2006, 06:57 PM
#4
Make sure your powersteering presure hose isn't leaking. I went through 3 alternators in 4 months before I noticed the hose was the culprit to my dying alternators, and yes, I'm using the duralast alternator from Autozone. Going on 6 months now with no problems.
07-28-2006, 05:19 AM
#5
I 2nd the powersteering hose check. I think that may have caused the premature failure of my factory unit over a long period of time (i have a slow leak). I replaced it with a remanufactured one 1 year ago and it's doing great.
07-28-2006, 11:55 AM
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Originally Posted by firebird69racer
make sure all the ground wires where put back on
Seems the alternator has been lasting through today, but if I let it idle enough, it dips below 13V until I give it some gas. I've already got another one lined up to replace tomorrow.
So what exactly is that wire that connects to it on the harness? What does it do with the alternator?
