1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Howdy all,
So, I thought the bushing for my alternator were going bad, but it turns out the there was only ONE bolt holding the mounting plate to the block (the hex one that holds the ground). Well, I discovered this when the car almost died on the road (lights dimmed, stereo blinked on and off, abs lights blinked on, etc.). Looks like the bouncing around on just one bolt caused the ground wire to the block to break off. Anyway, I removed the whole darned thing and brought the alternator to Advance Auto to be checked out. They said it was "bad", but to be honest, the guy barely knew how to hook it up to the machine and couldn't tell me why it was bad, just that it was.
What all can actually go wrong inside the alternator? It's only about 2-3 years old (previous owner). The brushes on the voltage regulator look fine (one is about 1cm the other is just under). The shaft rotates without any noise or vibration (though the guy at advanced suggested possible bad bearings causing seisure at high rpms). Anyway, I kind doubt it's totally bad, since when I experienced the dimming, etc., I'd hit the breaks, it would ground and the headlights would come on full. It had to be generating some juice, ehh?
Any thoughts here? The bearing thing sounds plausable, as it would be consistent with the hitting the breaks, connecting the ground, low RPM, it starting to work again. Is bearing failure common? Would the fact that it wobbled due to only one bolt cause the bearings to go bad (since it wouldn't be lined up perfect)? Is there a way to test for the bearing failure?
Thanks all,
-Dan
posted by 12.4.1...
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