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Old 02-24-2004, 07:42 PM
Wiz Wiz is offline
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Dying alternator? Flashing idiot lights, low voltages, etc.

This evening I started my car to warm up and walked the dog. When I got into the car there was a funny noise. I gave it a little gas and the noise was louder. Something attached to the belts maybe. Then I started smelling burning rubber/plastic. I checked under the hood and the weird noise / smell were coming from the alternator / power steering area. The smell went away, the noise is still there, the belts look fine. Now I have all sorts of flickering idiot lights on the dash that get brighter when I turn the high beams on and go away when I turn the lights off completely. Only reason I noticed the lights was because I leave my low beams on all the time. I did a voltage test and I'm getting exactly 12 Volts.

Do I have a dead / near dead alternator? I was told I should just have it rebuilt for $20 or so. Is this possible? Thanks.
~Ben
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Old 02-25-2004, 02:37 PM
rbalach rbalach is offline
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Sounds like the alternator (had the same thing happen to me once, except for the burning smell).
If you want to find out for sure, pull the alternator, take it to any auto parts shop and they can test it for you (a lot of them have the equipment to test alternators, batteries and starters).
Also, yes there are places that will refurbish alternators for much cheaper than buying a new one.
Good luck.
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Old 02-25-2004, 03:06 PM
Wiz Wiz is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by rbalach
Sounds like the alternator (had the same thing happen to me once, except for the burning smell).
If you want to find out for sure, pull the alternator, take it to any auto parts shop and they can test it for you (a lot of them have the equipment to test alternators, batteries and starters).
Also, yes there are places that will refurbish alternators for much cheaper than buying a new one.
Good luck.
Thanks, I just had the car towed for free (AAA rocks) and got the alternator pulled by a local shop and then took it to the rebuild guys. I asked them to test it before they rebuild it just to make 100% sure that was what was broken.

My attempt to remove the alternator my self resulted in 7 sockets being dropped onto the engine under the intake. I spent more time finding them and pulling them out with a magnet then actually working on removing the alternator. I was kinda stupid by putting all the sockets on top of the engine but I was outside and had nowhere else to put them.

It turned out all the bolts were stuck and I did not want to risk breaking anything so I said forget it. It took the shop very little time to remove it.

I already miss my car so much and its been less than 24 hours. Driving my mom's 96 Legacy around has proven quite unpleasant. Its amazing how easily you can be spoiled by a car with such a nice feel to it.
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