Alternator question
Alternator question I was driving to work today and noticed my battery did not appear to be charging by the gauge....so I figured I would drive down the road to autozone for them to check it out. I then nearly had a heart attack went I started hearing loud banging/knocking coming from under the hood thinking my new forged 383 is coming apart or something just as pulling in the parking lot with less than 2K on it 
So the helpful autozone workers come out to see WTF I'm doing fiddling under the hood with the plum crazy firebird out front looking panicked lol. I told them the alternator just took a **** and now I'm trying to figure out where this terrible knocking is coming from; they tested it and sure enough it's dead...they said the alternator bearing must be completely shot causing all the noise (I've never heard an alternator go out like this.)
I drove it the 1.5 miles off the battery alone home and the banging did stop...just as the power steering dies and "check gauges" light come on I pull in the driveway lol. Now my garage smells like burnt electrical components 
So, long story short, should I get a 120 or 140 amp re-manufactured alternator? Does it matter at all? What's the factory one rated at? (No "system" in my car
)
So the helpful autozone workers come out to see WTF I'm doing fiddling under the hood with the plum crazy firebird out front looking panicked lol. I told them the alternator just took a **** and now I'm trying to figure out where this terrible knocking is coming from; they tested it and sure enough it's dead...they said the alternator bearing must be completely shot causing all the noise (I've never heard an alternator go out like this.) I drove it the 1.5 miles off the battery alone home and the banging did stop...just as the power steering dies and "check gauges" light come on I pull in the driveway lol. Now my garage smells like burnt electrical components So, long story short, should I get a 120 or 140 amp re-manufactured alternator? Does it matter at all? What's the factory one rated at? (No "system" in my car
) 
Thanks! I'll spend the extra $20 for the 140 amp then....it's confusing when they have 10 different alternators that fit the application lol 
This post makes me want to ask this question, what would happen with a 200 amp alternator? I chose to go with one only because of the stereo system that is in the car. Im wondering if any negative will come from that
TECH Veteran
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,145
Likes: 61
From: Little Rock, AR
It just gives you more charging capacity, if you need the power.
I figured I'd update the thread with the "real" issue....lol since not many people do that around here. Turns out the alternator was just fine....the loud *** banging and no charging was coming from the 
"Professional Products" harmonic balancer going into automatic self destruct mode 
All the rubber in the middle of the balancer was burned up and now it's in two pieces 
On the plus side, I have a new alternator with lifetime autozone warranty Woo hoo!
"Professional Products" harmonic balancer going into automatic self destruct mode All the rubber in the middle of the balancer was burned up and now it's in two pieces On the plus side, I have a new alternator with lifetime autozone warranty Woo hoo! 
