Alternators

Only if the wiring on the car is modified.

First use a digital volt meter to check the voltage at the battery with the engine not running. You should read 12.6 volts DC if the battery is fully charged, 12.4 at 75% charge, 12.2 at 50% charge, 12.0 at 25% charge, anything less and the battery is, for all intents and purposes, dead. If it does not have enough charge to start the engine fully charge it with a battery charger. If it will not take a charge it is defective. Once charged start the engine. You should read 13.5 to 15.5 volts at the battery with the engine running. If you read less than 13.5 volts the alternator is suspect and more than likely defective. Or you can just drive the car to your nearest auto parts store where most will check the system for free.

Generally its pretty simple. On a '98 Ford Expedition, there is on larger red wire that bolts on top and a thin lead wire going to the battery. The alternator is grounded out by the bracket bolted to the engine, so there is no black wire. It is rather self-explanatory if you look at it closely.

YOU TAKE OFF THE AIC AND THE HOSES WHERE THE PCV IS DISSCONNECT THE ALT AND ALL BLTS AND THE LOWER PLASTIC SHIELD AND IT COMES OUT THE TOP JUST BE GENTLE

About 10 pounds.

Until an auto battery expert revises this answer, it will be generic in nature, and very much a matter of opinion in any case. For more than one reason, I suspect that two batteries with an isolator would be more dependable than only a single battery with a high output alternator. 1. Two batteries provide redundancy in case one were to fail. 2. Except for battery charging, an alternator, either normal size or high capacity, has no other function, and provides no beneficial service. And during cranking, a high amp alternator puts out NO MORE CURRENT than a normal alternator. So, if there is no increased current output during cranking, the excess current output of a larger alternator is just an exercise in futility. 3. Two batteries, if properly connected are capable of providing up to double the starting current, compared to only one. This allows for more dependabiliy in the event of engine deficencies which result in difficult starting. Note that a properly tuned engine [electrical, ignition, and fuel systems] will start on the first crank without the need for additional current that would be provided by a second battery.

You do not you get a American car.

-Yeah, American ~;`(

- then you need to repair the alternator, transmission, rust, engine, every few years while your taxes go help bailout the giant American auto manufacturers and their fat-cat billionaire owners.

Please answer with something more helpful.

Something like:

unhook the battery

unhook the cables (remember where they came from)

if you have a belt tensioner - loosen it

unbolt the alternator (you might need to undo the tension arm)

you may also need to remove the radiator shroud and the radiator.

install in reverse order

If you can't do this go see your friendly neighborhood mechanic

You'd be surprised what it takes to resolve this stuff sometimes. It might not be as hard as you thought, but then again with those amps it might be impossible. Switching amps helps.

Sorry if I don't follow your thread completely to see what you've done but it's still pretty basic. Often you can break all the rules and everything comes out fine. Too, sometimes you follow all the rules and it still doesn't work. You have to change components - either get better or cheaper ones or at least different........

First of all you need to find out which component is noisy. Pull the RCA jacks out of the first amp and the second amp and see if you still get noise coming out the speakers. If you do, the problem is purely from power/ground and the amps.

a) Make sure that all the grounds come to a common location.

b) ISOLATE the amps bodies from metal contact. That means the you need to lift if off its mounts with spacers. The ground wire should be the only ground. NOT the amp body (sometimes reversing this solves the issue too). You can even mount on pieces of wood if you need to.

c) You can try a choke in the power lines but don't be surprised if this doesn't work. Honestly, this really shouldn't be necessary.

d) Put a capacitor on your alternator.

If you can - try to swap out ANY other amp with one of the ones you have. "Usually" a higher quality amp is much more likely to completely filter noise like this - you're getting what you pay for. But sometimes you can put in a dirt cheap amp that's fairly clean and it works better too.

Usually "more money" means better performance but like I said, you can swap a $100 RCA cable with one that is $10 and the $10 one can be noise free. I've had that happen. I've spent more money on cables (only) than most people spend on the head unit and found that $10 cables did just as well in the system.

And you can get RCA cables that have grounds on them at both ends to reduce induced noise - but I've had those be noiser than cheapo cables that I put in to solve the issue. It's worth a shot though.

As someone mentioned - turn down your gains way down (and use more powerful amps).

If the noise is coming out the RCA jacks then the head unit is noisy from it's power line or the induced noise is too strong relative to your signal (hope it's a least 4 volts).

a) Run the head unit of a separate battery you dragged into the vehicle for testing the power source. Noise - try to choke it at the power source or at the alternator with a capacitor.

b) If it's through the RCA cables - get better cables (or cheaper ones). Make sure that you're not running near power lines (you already did this).

It is okay to cross power, just don't run it along side for very long. I've broken this rule too and it was fine - each vehicle is can be unique.

If the issue is still the RCA cables you might have to get new amps that filter noise better (like alpine, for example) or get a head unit with higher voltage outs so you can turn down the gains on you amps (greater signal to noise ratio from higher voltage inputs).

As a word to the wise - if you do the above and you still get noise you'll probably have to swap amps or put up with the noise. You might find that paying the bucks to let the pros do it (they do this all the time) might be better and you'll be happier with the results in the long run. Probably changing one major component will shut down the issue. If you swap an alpine amp (not that they're the best by any means) for your front and rear speakers the problem would probably go away.

It only hurts your pocket once, but after a while you forget the pain and then you can enjoy your stereo.

(Oh, too, it might be overkill, but use spiral wound wires wherever you can). Speaker, RCA, even smaller power summed to the right sized for you watts. But don't believe that you can't get a really clean system with cheap RCA cables and 2 volt outputs because you can - in many vehicles, that is.....)

Loosen the alternator belt with the tensioner pulley. Remove the alternator belt. Remove the wiring harness. Remove the alternator retaining bolts. Reverse the process to install the new alternator.

I have had to do this twice, and the easiest way is to go from underneath. Start by removing the Air conditioning unit. Don't unscrew the Top hose on the A/C compressor unit unless you drained the fluid out (I did this and had quite a show). You can usually push the A/C Unit to the side after you remove the four long bolts and work on the Alternator, that way it is much much easier. The mounting bolt is the trickiest part, especially the flat one that goes on the top. (Once I sat out in the yard pushing the alternator upward thinking it needed to mount on the upper portion of the engine, then I noticed the grooves in the mounting bolt hard a sharp edge etched into it.) That's when I discovered a kind of indented part of the engine block next to the alternator (it had the sharp edge (a sharp corner) ). After that it was a lot easier to figure out that annoying Bracket or whatever you want to call it.

The Last mounting bolt for the alternator is behind the AC Unit you have to move it out of the way, or you will never be able to remove the alternator.

After all the bolts have been removed, it is easier to remove the alternator from the top. Someone needs to push the AC Unit up and towards the engine.

ANSWER

Get the car up on jack stands supported on the control arm pivots.

Remove the front air intake.

Remove the cooling fan.

Remove the horn.

Remove the splash guard in the right side wheel well.

Remove the right side front splash guard.

Take off the serpentine belt. Remove the tensioner pulley.

Dismount the A/C compressor but do not open the hose connections on it.

Hang the A/C compressor by a Coat hangar wire so it's away from the alternator.

Take out the two bolts on the top of the alternator top bracket.

Remove the alternator pivot bolt.

Take the alternator out from the top.

Put in the new alternator and get it all back in place and TIGHT.

You're kidding, right? You loosen the short bolt near the top of the alternator. This is the bolt that passes through a long, curving slot in a long, curving mounting bracket. Once this is loosened, not removed, you can tilt the alternator toward the center of the motor, bringing the pulley closer to the next pulley around which the belt is looped. Grab the belt and pull it around the alternator pulley. Now tilt the alternator back to where it was. This will take the slack out of the belt. You'll have to push pretty hard against the alternator to get the belt tight. Once it's tight, tighten down the bolt you loosened. Now, find the longest stretch of unsupported belt and push against the belt to see how tight it is. It shouldn't be so tight that it doesn't move at all. You want about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch of slack, but absolutely NO MORE THAN 1/2 AN INCH! If it doesn't fall within these measurements, you need to loosen the bolt and adjust the tension again. That's it. It should be fairly obvious unless you have a car with one of those new-fangled serpentine belts. In that case, same method applies, it's just more complicated to keep track of all the pullies and belt loops.

If it is makeing a noise or is not putting out at least 13.5 volts it is bad. Take the car or the alternator to an Auto Parts store and have them load test the alternator to be sure.

If it the 3.8........start by disconnecting the battery. Then remove the sepertine belt. On the back of the alternator, there is a red cable and a plug. Undo those. Then there is only 3 bolts. Two in the front, one on the back.

There are times when the alternator will test out fine as far as amp output and voltage output but if your alternator has a weak diode(s) it may trigger the light to go on. I hate to say you should replace the alternator, but your charging system is pretty much self contained in your alternator so I believe the problem is in fact in your alternator. Good luck.

Check for a bad ground. Follow the ground cable from the battery to the car's frame. If there is corrosion, remove the bolt, clean the area, and reattach.

If it's not cranking at all, it could be the keyswitch, a bad connection somewhere, the starter or the neutral lockout switch.

Refer to your owners manual, there will be a diagram there to show you the position of the belt, there should also be a diagram under the hood. Make sure you have a socket and flex bar to fit your idler pulley to relieve the tension to allow you to install belt properly. Good luck

big job requires a lift as it comes out the bottom and i have replaced many radiators that novices have ripped a hole in getting the alt. out

the vehicle needa a new voltage regulater,this should have been checked before battery and alternator as its the cheapest part to replace

You do not have to reset anything. but you should have the battery disconnected. and once you reconnect the battery it will reset your computer.

Most altenators I have dealt with normally last 10 years+ unless there is something wrong with the charging system (battery bad, belts, etc) that causes it to work harder

You have to install a new belt tensioner.

The voltage should be in the range of 13.2 to 14 or so volts. It should not go over 15 volts.

There's a number of things ... but the one that got me was a stuck fuel pump relay. It stayed closed and the fuel pump ran all night.

when mine did that it was because the harmonic balancer (hb) pulley had gone bad and kept pushing the alternator belt off and breaking it. but fixed the hb pulley and started back up and as soon as i used the a/c the hb pulley blew, pushed the alt belt off and back to square one. now fixed a/c system lucky got a good deal, new hb pulley. new belts and all was fine for 15 months. now it just dies every once in a while, looking for answer on that one . no more belt problems though! 6/2009