engine was getting harder to start, then the other day noticed volts on dash was close to like 9, way lower than normal 13. so i take car to autozone and have them test it with the machine on my car. they said alternator is not putting out, need a new one. made sense. when i took it out of the car it also had that burnt electronic smell.

so, i take off alternator to napa and they had trouble finding the correct one, the guy had to turn the case quarter turn and switch the thing the belt drives on, the new one had the v-belt type and mine had the wide flat type with ribs. all my other accesories are v-belt. i dont think they even believed me i didnt have serpentine. is this usual?

then i install on car, and the thing is squeeling like a mother. only way it wont squeel is if i adjust it so the belt is almost falling off. even worse, i dont think its putting out any juice. my car wont stay running for long presumably since its running only on battery, and the volts in dash still read 9. so now i have two problems, my car doesnt even charge/run and the new alt squeels real bad. help?

 

Your setup is normal... 5-rib belt for the alternator/waterpump/crank, using the same brackets as the V-belt setup, right? I bought pullies for that setup for my car not long ago, its not uncommon.

I'm having a helluva time finding an alternator for that setup as well though. If you have any luck, post what you find.

 

yeah i have that setup..

did some testing with the meter:
red wire in plug to alt: always 12v
brown wire in plug to alt: 12v with ignition

battery says 12.5 with no load

zero ohms from small red wire into alt and other end at battery. looks like small red wire goes from batt to alt and large wire goes from batt to starter. correct me if wrong.
large black battery cable firmly connected to engine, small end grounded.

now have new alt off again, planning on taking to store to have checked separately so at least i will know if thats good for sure and see if it squeels on their machine..

 

I had to replace my alt. on my 91' 305 tpi and if this helps you, i work at Advance Auto Parts and the part number for the alt. that we carry (Palladium) is 91314. That is a new alt. Any auto parts store should be able to cross reference that number for you. As far as the noise, im not sure what to tell you, the removal and install on these is pretty easy, only 1 plug-in to worry about and the red small cable on the back of the alt. is held on by the nut. If the alt. that they carry came with the v-belt shaped pulley, they should have removed that and put on your 5-rib pulley. Also, make sure you have a 105amp alt. because that is what came on the car, smaller amp alt. will burn up trying to charge up your accessories. Id also recommend getting a New alt. as apposed to getting a remanufactured one.

 

Powermaster one dropped right in and no squealing . I had no idea there was an issue like that .

 

from what Ive read i might have a 10SI and not a CS130 type. funny though on summit page they even show CS130 for my year. next time i need a part look up though i'll remember that you work there

but anyhow, i had the new one checked out today at pepboys and it passed and no squeeling. it is 108 amp so it should be fine as far as that.

so maybe one of the belt ribs was off and not aligned correctly, im going to put it back on and be real careful with the belt this time down at the bottom. if not perhaps the belt needs replace also. hopefully that will cure all my problems! cross my fingers!

 

Do the serpentine cars use the same alternator (5-rib) as the '86 cars do? I've been to all the parts stores, and all they have for the '86 setup is a V-belt pulley on the alternator, not the proper 5-rib pulleys.

 

got it back on today... no squeeling... the belt must have been a groove off or something...

works much better, volts back up and everything... glad that was the real problem...

thanks for the help...

btw, air_adam, that napa part seems to be the correct one... they just need to turn the case and change the pulley... they took my pulley off the old one to put on new one (which had vbelt), so i dont know if you are going to be able to find one that comes with that pulley already on it.