Im fucking pissed ( alternator )

[19Cutlass94]

As some of you may or may not know, I bought a 170amp alternator. Well I got it yesturday and put it in yesturday. It was working great, although I thought it was weird how at stoplights the voltage would drop when in gear, but not in park or neutral. But anyways I was driving last light, had all my lights on everything was staying at 14+volts So Im thinking this is great. But then this morning I was driving to school, and yeah that alternator decided it wanted to shit the bed. So know I have a $200 alternator that lasted two days. I duno if something internal shit the bed or if there was just a defect in something but this sucks. Now I have to drive pops truck because I mnto changing this alternator 4 million times. So I hope this one was a defect, and I get a new one that actually can last or else Ill be getting my money back.

[terryk2003]

that sucks man!...just be thankful the alternators on the 3100's arent to bad of a job!

[1990lumina]

What brand alternator is it?? either way that sucks..hopefully it's on warantee!

 

Even though this Bosch unit I have is noisey as fuck (whines like a bitch) it's lasted two years already and I run quite a bit of things off it...

[Robby1870]

ummm....warranty?

[Nick1234]

are you sure the metal part of the wire where it connects to the alternator isn't touching. something along the lines of that...

[19Cutlass94]

are you sure the metal part of the wire where it connects to the alternator isn't touching. something along the lines of that...

 

??? You lost me on that one.

 

 

Everything is tight and where its suppose to be. I have a'Big 3' upgrade in 4g wire and thats all attached and it worked fine with the old alternator.

 

I gotta call them up monday since the alternator has a 12month unlimited mile warranty. So hopefully everything will be ok and Ill send it back and they will gimme another one. I just hope I make it home tonight.

 

 

BTW, worst part about changing a 3100 alternator is where that plastic bracket for the PS lines go.

[Brian P]

where'd you buy that alt?

[19Cutlass94]

http://www.alternatorparts.com

[Brian P]

eek! Well maybe they'll stand by their product.

[19Cutlass94]

eek! Well maybe they'll stand by their product.

 

Whats that suppose to mean?

 

 

 

 

 

I called them today during my lunch break, and they said they would e-mail me a label ( which I havent gotten yet and he said in about an hour ) and Id send it back and they would test it and then send me another one. So hopefully this will work out. It better.

[Crazy K]

I'd test it at AZ or advanced and see what happensn first.

[19Cutlass94]

Its gotta be the alt. Even after driving it ( from work to home rather harshly to make it home ) it was very cool. Was not hot at all and if it was working like it should have been there would be some heat to it. Plus the fact that I changed absolutly nothing but the alt.

[Supreme Cutlass]

Do 3100 alt's have an internal regulator?

[PCGUY112887]

Do 3100 alt's have an internal regulator?

When I look up new alts it says that they have an Internal Regulator at 9:00 (whatever that means).

[Robby1870]

Yeah, all W alternators do. Hell most moden alternators have internal regulators.

[Dr.Fiero]

I used to work as an auto mechanic at a small shop - noticed that a lot of V6 GM's were killing alternators.

 

I realized then that the ones that they all had one thing in common - the underhood insulation. It seems that it's blocking off the air flow and was killing regulators, and burning windings. I quite often found insulation 'fluff' inside the alt's!

 

I started cutting a patch out over the area above the alternator on the ones I fixed in hopes to reduce come-backs. I didn't stay there long enough to find out if it helped.... but it made sense at the time!

 

[Brian P]

eek! Well maybe they'll stand by their product.

 

Whats that suppose to mean?

 

 

 

 

 

I called them today during my lunch break, and they said they would e-mail me a label ( which I havent gotten yet and he said in about an hour ) and Id send it back and they would test it and then send me another one. So hopefully this will work out. It better.

 

Well just the site looks like the type that would get imbedded into my hard drive by spyware. Like a cheap type ya know. Just saying hopefully they do respond and take care of the issue.

[97loudcut]

whats this "big three" upgrade?

[19Cutlass94]

eek! Well maybe they'll stand by their product.

 

Whats that suppose to mean?

 

 

 

 

 

I called them today during my lunch break, and they said they would e-mail me a label ( which I havent gotten yet and he said in about an hour ) and Id send it back and they would test it and then send me another one. So hopefully this will work out. It better.

 

Well just the site looks like the type that would get imbedded into my hard drive by spyware. Like a cheap type ya know. Just saying hopefully they do respond and take care of the issue.

 

Well I called them and they said they would e-mail me a label to send it back so I wouldnt have to pay shipping on it. So far I havent gotten that label, so if I dont get it by monday Ill have to call them again and have them e-mail it to me then and there. But talking to them on the phone, they seem like they will take care of it. I sure hope so.

[ns87]

This isn't a good time for New York cars. Sorry to hear about your troubles Jay....hopefully it was just a defect

[19Cutlass94]

Well I brought it to advanced and had to tested ( since all of the ones at all of the napa stores were broken.... go figure ) But they tested it and said it was putting out less than 2v. Yeah no wonder why my voltage dropped like a rock.

[Brian P]

[badassoldspower]

whats this "big three" upgrade?

 

alt to battery

block to chassis

batt to grnd

[97loudcut]

Oh, okay?

 

That was no help at all, haha

[19Cutlass94]

The 'Big 3' is needed when you upgrade to a high output alt. If you dont, youll burn out the alternator faster, or burn up the wires because stock is too small to carry the current load.