Dead = Alternator

[TheJohnny]

Well last night when I went to leave work I go and start my car and I hear this whine noise coming from the engine. It sounded like I put a leaf blower electric super charger under the hood. At first I'm thinking to myself oh no the bearings in the turbo have finally given up (I only have 32,000 miles). Then I start to head home, a 30 mile commute through Vegas traffic. On the drive I notice that my ABS light came on and I was like WTF, then the Brake light came on, then the stereo wouldn't stay turned on, then the Air Bag light kept blinking. I thought to myself, oh no, I'm losing my alternator. Well once I got to where I had to go I had to deal with the idea of if I turn this off it isn't going to start again because I've probably been running on nothing but battery, I was right, car wouldn't start again but I knew it wouldn't. Anyway, checked my paperwork and saw that I had used 85% of my OE battery warranty (yes out factory batterys have a prorate on them). So I decided the hell with it and put in a new one and had my system checked and what do you know, Alternator not putting out the mojo juice. So this morning it was off to the dealer where they are currently putting in a new alternator. The service tech, super cool guy at Courtesy in Henderson (Dustin), said I was the first one in Vegas that he knows of that has had one go bad. Well, they had one in town so it's getting fixed today which is cool, this NEON i'm in has horrible blind spots out the front window. Just thought I would share...I also complained about the hesitation again and he said he knows and that it sucks because he's been in one with it so he knew first hand. Thanks for reading my book, haha!

Factory Battery Lasted me 3 years in VEGAS....thats unbelievable for this climate out here.... I got lucky having it last that long.

 

[srd555]

Mine went last month at 34985 miles on the clock. Exactly the same noises and exactly the same warning lights.

 

[dirtysouth_msp]

It seems that our alternators have rather low output. Does anyone know if there are any higher output upgrade options out there? I have over 1300 watts rms of amps in my msp and needless to say it puts quite a strain on the alternator. I already have a yellow-top optima and a 1.5 farad cap. But, my lights still dim a little and if I turn up the bass enough, my rpms will dip a little when the bass drops.

 

[Earful]

Mine went last month at 34985 miles on the clock. Exactly the same noises and exactly the same warning lights.

My car is almost exactly this mileage.....fingers crossed.....

 

[mspHtown]

My car is almost exactly this mileage.....fingers crossed.....

same here

 

[tallrd]

It seems that our alternators have rather low output. Does anyone know if there are any higher output upgrade options out there? I have over 1300 watts rms of amps in my msp and needless to say it puts quite a strain on the alternator. I already have a yellow-top optima and a 1.5 farad cap. But, my lights still dim a little and if I turn up the bass enough, my rpms will dip a little when the bass drops.

wondering about the same question ^^.

 

[dirtysouth_msp]

Does anyone know the exact output of our alternators at idle? I believe that I read it was 80A, but I'm not sure. Anyone?

I think I may have found a source for alternators with an output of 120A at idle that are a direct fit. Not sure on price yet, waiting for them to reply. I'd like to find something even higher than that, I've heard of people having 300A aftermarket alternators in other cars. However, a 50% increase in output would probably do the trick. I'll let you guys know when I get some more info.

 

[TheJohnny]

Well the car runs so much better now, go figure

Put my AWR front motor mount on today as well, and what do you know, the factory mount was torn. That makes a new front, both sides have now been replaced under warranty (I also put the side inserts in now). The only one left is the rear, not looking forward to that one but can't wait to do it, I'll finally be done with changing mounts once I do it.

Anyway, that's funny how you had the same warning lights, I guess that's the norm when they go though huh!