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The alternator on my 2001 Camaro is already going bad and I just installed a reman AC Delco back in October. I found this thread so I'm going to get a 145 amp alternator from a junkyard down the street on Monday. I just came back from LKQ in Santa Fe, but the KG3 alternators have been picked clean out of the GM trucks and all that's left is the 105 amp version. Glad you posted this solution!
Well if you can't get a junkyard one just grab a new/rebuilt one. Even though this whole thing was written up to give people a way to get a OEM alternator for $50, it has kinda timed out and now you guys will likely have to switch to parts store alternators. Which is fine, the autozone (etc) truck alternators don't seem to have a high failure rate like the F body alternators did.
Well good news, I took out my reman AC Delco alternator and noticed my exciter wire connector was still on the alternator lol. I still used the 145 amp truck alternator and it works well. One thing, it is such a tight fit and I didn't think that was possible considering the stock alternator is a tight fit, but somehow I got it to go into the bracket. It's 86 F today fans came on and the alternator took it like a champ. Glad you shared this, thanks.
One thing to keep in mind, the connections on the alternator for the battery cable and exciter wire are in different locations so make sure your wiring is not touching anything that will cause a problem. I had a ground wire touching a power steering line so I just moved the ground wire out of the way which fixed my problem. All is well now.
Yeah the larger case alternator does come close to a few things. In the first post it is mentioned. Usually need to bend the power steering line down just a hair too and since the exciter is in a little bit different location and can pull on the OE wire I recommend replacing it with a new one/adding length at the same time.
Glad to hear it worked out though, the 145 is an awesome little deal to do to an F body.
For what it's worth I revved mine to 7k every single day for years with the 145 and it never even blinked. The off the shelf oe f body alternators would die every single time I got close to 7k. (the factory original didn't but the rebuilds did)
Hi all, I ran across this thread and an happy to see it still "alive". I am putting 3 amps into my TA and if everything were hitting at max I would exceed a 165 amp draw, so I will keep the volumes low, lol. I found a 145 Amp KG3 alternator on eBay from a 2004 GM 4x4 with the lowest miles I could find, 104,000. It comes with a 90 day warranty and I got the eBay square trade 1 year as a back-up. Well, it was delivered today and it looks like they just cut the wires off and threw it into a box. I will be cleaning it up a little before putting it into the car but wanted to check on a few items first.
There is a small hairline crack on the back of the alternator, I am including pictures. Should I pull the back cover off and throw some epoxy or sealer into the crack to prevent it from getting worse (growing or causing parts to fall off)?
I made sure this will have the 4 plugs connector as the newer post 2010 alternators seem to have just 2 connectors. The original plug used only 3 wires and the 4th pin is a plastic one, is this normal? There isn't much wire left on the plug, will I need it?
As the current discussion in on the extension of the excieter wire, do they sell longer ones or will I need to get some wire and splice it in to extend the while wire harness?
The main power wire on the back, will this need to be extended as well, if a good idea should I use the next gauge wire over the stock?
Power post and stock connector 145 Amp and Option KG3 on the tag 4 post connector for exciter and connections, x3 Larger view of the crack on the back, looking for options on best way to repair to prevent it from getting worse. 4 post connection socket
The crack is just a plastic cover. Not really much of an issue.
You can go to the junkyard and get that pigtail off of all sorts of vehicles, if you need it. Very common on alternators of all ratings in that year range.
In the very first post there is information and part numbers on exciter wire pigtails. A pigtail is a connector with a length of wire attached. The wire that comes with it is long enough that it will allow you to extend your wire by just attaching it to your existing wire.
You only need one of the wires. You will be able to tell which one is the right one by looking at your stock connector. Exciter wires for these alternators come with either 1 wire or 4. If you get the kind that comes with 4 match it up to your stock wire and connect the same wire. Then cut out or de pin the other 3.
As for the crack, that's just a plastic cover it doesn't do anything to keep parts in or anything. Don't worry about the crack. On my 145 amp alt that I had in my truck I took that cover and drilled a bunch of holes in it to let it breathe and shed a little bit of heat because I also had a really serious sound system in that truck.
Yes you should add a larger gauge wire to the back of the alternator to the battery. When I did that I got some battery bolts from knuconceptz that allow you to bolt a battery cable to the battery bolt. I can't post the link since they are not a sponsor but you can go to their website and find them. I used that aftermarket battery bolt to bolt up my heavy gauge amp wire and my heavy gauge alternator to battery wire.
In the very first post there is information and part numbers on exciter wire pigtails. A pigtail is a connector with a length of wire attached. The wire that comes with it is long enough that it will allow you to extend your wire by just attaching it to your existing wire.
You only need one of the wires. You will be able to tell which one is the right one by looking at your stock connector. Exciter wires for these alternators come with either 1 wire or 4. If you get the kind that comes with 4 match it up to your stock wire and connect the same wire. Then cut out or de pin the other 3.
As for the crack, that's just a plastic cover it doesn't do anything to keep parts in or anything. Don't worry about the crack. On my 145 amp alt that I had in my truck I took that cover and drilled a bunch of holes in it to let it breathe and shed a little bit of heat because I also had a really serious sound system in that truck.
Yes you should add a larger gauge wire to the back of the alternator to the battery. When I did that I got some battery bolts from knuconceptz that allow you to bolt a battery cable to the battery bolt. I can't post the link since they are not a sponsor but you can go to their website and find them. I used that aftermarket battery bolt to bolt up my heavy gauge amp wire and my heavy gauge alternator to battery wire.
Thanks 00pooterSS, I forgot about the pigtail and ordered one. I will have to go back through some of the middle part of the thread. At $65 this will be a more economical option verses the $300+ prices for 200+ Amp alternators out there. Worst case, I have the current one as a back up.
Thanks 00pooterSS, I forgot about the pigtail and ordered one. I will have to go back through some of the middle part of the thread. At $65 this will be a more economical option verses the $300+ prices for 200+ Amp alternators out there. Worst case, I have the current one as a back up.
I agree, and 145 amps isn't bad man, that's pretty good output.
I don't think there is much in the middle of the thread, everything you need should be in the first post.
If there's any other questions you have post them up
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Yes you should add a larger gauge wire to the back of the alternator to the battery. When I did that I got some battery bolts from knuconceptz that allow you to bolt a battery cable to the battery bolt. I can't post the link since they are not a sponsor but you can go to their website and find them. I used that aftermarket battery bolt to bolt up my heavy gauge amp wire and my heavy gauge alternator to battery wire.
Does this heavier wire need to go back directly to the battery? Couldn't it just go to the positive terminal junction near the underhood fuse panels?
The ACDELCO 3351092 is the way to go for $170 at rockauto if you want new/rebuilt.
I thought so too but shortly after I installed it I can already hear the damn thing whining. It's some china made part. I'm going to order one through the LKQ place and see if an OEM one is better.
Does this heavier wire need to go back directly to the battery? Couldn't it just go to the positive terminal junction near the underhood fuse panels?
To the battery. Everything pulls off the battery so send it there, that way you replenish it the fastest. All the fuse boxes etc are already wired to carry the appropriate amperage, let them do that, you pulling more off the battery put more directly back into it, don't add the extra amperage to a connection point that doesn't have the correct wiring to carry the additional amperage back to the battery.
Originally Posted by dabest09
I thought so too but shortly after I installed it I can already hear the damn thing whining. It's some china made part. I'm going to order one through the LKQ place and see if an OEM one is better.
Yeah that's the whole reason I did this whole thread. Nothing compares to the OE alternator, they are near $500 at the dealer, I wanted one of that quality level and didn't want to spend the money. Spending $50 on one sounded much better. Also every alternator I put on failed so I was nervous about trying a new $500 alt and it failing and the dealer saying they wouldn't warranty it for whatever reason. So the junkyard alt was my way of getting a alternator that is without doubt the highest quality, so I could see if the alternators themselves were the problem, or if something was causing the failures. And since I put the junkyard alt on my car and others and they never failed, I just kept using the junkyard alternators.
Yeah that's the whole reason I did this whole thread. Nothing compares to the OE alternator, they are near $500 at the dealer, I wanted one of that quality level and didn't want to spend the money. Spending $50 on one sounded much better. Also every alternator I put on failed so I was nervous about trying a new $500 alt and it failing and the dealer saying they wouldn't warranty it for whatever reason. So the junkyard alt was my way of getting a alternator that is without doubt the highest quality, so I could see if the alternators themselves were the problem, or if something was causing the failures. And since I put the junkyard alt on my car and others and they never failed, I just kept using the junkyard alternators.
Unbelievable that they want that much for an OEM one. I'll have to go get a junkyard one. Thanks for all the help in this thread!
Unbelievable that they want that much for an OEM one. I'll have to go get a junkyard one. Thanks for all the help in this thread!
No problem man, and yeah, they're crazy expensive at the dealer. But they are better units that off the shelf parts store units. The original F body alternators that came on the cars were excellent. They worked great and would handle high rpm no problem. But every single one I bought from the parts store, and again I tried new and rebuilt offerings from 4 different suppliers and I also got multiple of each of some of them so that's a total of 10+ alternators in all different brands and offerings and not a single one would do just the bare minimum, and the couple that did died the VERY SECOND I took them past 6k rpm.
When I called the dealership 10 years ago they were $500.
I just looked at GMparts direct (they sell OE parts much cheaper than the local dealership) and they are marked down to $268 from $495 but I doubt they have any original OE build alternators left and they are probably all your typical parts store AC delco's now, which isn't really the same as factory original.
And the 145 amp truck alt is $305 through them, marked down from $562
[QUOTE=00pooterSS;13405265]I posted a thread a while back about having alternator after alternator fail, one literally lasted about 5 minutes. These were all new or rebuilt and I tried new and rebuilt from 4 different suppliers. I went through 10 alternators before I gave up on off the shelf alternators.
Long story short I tested every thing multiple times and even replaced the exciter wire and connector, never could find an issue and it all started when I replaced the factory original alternator with an aftermarket one, and it was all downhill from there.
The fix.... A truck alternator. I got the idea from another board member that the truck alternator actually fits the F body cars, so I went to the junk yard and spent $40 on a used 2003 Truck 145 amp alternator bolted it in and the voltage has never been more stable.
The 145 amp truck alternator only has one simple modification that needs to be made to use it, it does not use the rear support bracket that the F body alternator does so remove the one bolt and bracket, other than that it bolts directly in, plugs directly up, and works good!! So for less money you can have an higher amperage output, more stable, more durable alternator if you go this route. The pulley was even the same, this couldn't be easier.
I hope this helps anyone else with the same issues, here is the link to my original thread if you feel like reading more details of the problems I was having
Identifying the right alternator: Get a 2003-2004 Truck alternator (may even apply to up to around 2005?), 145 amp, 4 pin connector, the code junk yards use to identify it is "KG3". The standard truck alternator is a 105, but some trucks with a lot of electronics use the 145. When I ordered mine I told them it was a 2003 truck, 145 amp and I got the right one. Also you can tell them it's a "KG3" code alternator, that's some code the scrap yards use apparenlty for that alternator. I got mine from LKQ for $43.30 picked up.
Some more info on identifying the alternator
ALSO VERY IMPORTANT Replace the alternator connector, the single wire connector with the plastic plug in on the top, these fail and cause problems as well. Here is some information on the connector.
AC Delco part PN# PT1136 (Oreilly has another brand also for the connector, don't remember the name brand)
I got mine from NAPA so you can try going there or go to Oreilly. They are all over Ebay too, search LS1 alternator
Man I really don't know how to use this forum but here goes.....I'm doing this install and having trouble right at the end......does anyone have any tips on aligning the bolts.....the serpentine belt is rubbing on the case of the kg3 and the bolts are really tight.....I dont want to damage them.....any help is greatly appreciated
I can't see how that would happen unless something is installed wrong. Take it all apart and inspect it. There is no way to align or mis align the bolts. They either go in the holes or dont..
Did you remember to remove the little L bracket brace that bolts to the top rear side of the original alternator?
07-05-2020, 03:44 PM
