Alternator replacement

[Tyler17rose]

I searched and am sorta confused. <p>This is the deal:<p>My charge battery light came on the other day when i was sittin in the parking lot. I took it for a rip and anytime i went about 1500rpm the light would go out. Then the next day i needed to be above 3000 for the light to go out. Now tonight my car died completely. Wont start. <p>Is this a failed alternator? If it is, when i'm replacing it do i remove it from above? Or jack the car up and do it from underneath? Oh BTW i have AC. <p>Thanks

[Tyler17rose]

Bump~ need help here people. My car is just sittin there.

[sheller]

Well, in the very least your battery has no charge. Give her a jump and get her started. Drive her down to an auto parts place and have the electrical tested (most of them should do that for free). They will be able to tell you if the problem is the batter, the alternator, or both. From there you have more information about what all needs to be done. The battery is easy to replace but the alternator is much more difficult. I really don't have any good advice about replacing that. I'm close to having to do mine too and I'm not looking forward to it.
Steve

[shocker]

ya the same thing happened on my old car. i had to keep revving higher and higher to make the light go away. so i replaced the battery but it quickly went dead. it was my alternator that was the problem. i dont know if its your problem but it sounds similar to me so i would have canadian tire or some one test it to see if its dead first before replacing.

[IanL]

Most likely its stuck or worn out brushes in the alternator. Page G-017 in the manual. Maybe they can be fixed cheaply?

[nolimits865]

Get it running and disconnect the positive battery cable if it dies then its your alternator if not then its something else just a qick way to test!

[RayRay]

This is bringing up bad memories of when my alternator died last month. Grrrr... It only took the mechanic an hour of labor to replace. The mechanic had to drop the AC compressor to get access to the alternator. You might be able to do it yourself.

[Tyler17rose]

Ok so i'm attempting this tomorow morning. I have my replacement alternator, Jack , jack stands, basic hand tools. I'm going to remove the rad cover, the fan, loosen the belt tensioner by loosening the pully bolt, then the long bolt above it, then jack the car up remove the splash guard. <p>Then comes the tricky part, I'm going to remove the 4 bolts holding the AC on, drop that out of the way just enough to get the alternator out. Ofcoarse unplug the alternator connections, remove the 3? bolts. Then reverse all of this. <p>One question. Do i drop the alternator out from below? Or take it out from above? Will there be any problems with my plan? <p>Thanks.

[RayRay]

I think my mechanic dropped the alternator from below.

[lakersfan1]

Drop it which ever way there is clearance. But it's definitely the alternator that's bad. Your engine should be able to run just fine without a battery if your alternator is in good condition and you aren't running any accessories. But your battery is probably fu-bar now, too. Once you fully discharge your battery a few times, that's it. It's now a POS.....unless you were running a deep discharge battery like and Optima Yellow top.