A little over an hour ago I was out making a midnight run, when I heard a faint noise coming from the front of the car I have never heard before. It was a whining noise. Very low in volume, but can clearly be heard at idle and increases in tone on acceleration until about 1200 RPM when it disappears. It sounds like a cat is howling underneath my hood.

When I got home I pulled a screwdriver out and used stethoscope method. The alternator is what I most suspected so that's where I tried first, and that's where it happened to be coming from.

It's the bearings right? How long do I have before failure? I'm hoping to push another month out of this, although I know that;s probably being a bit optimistic.

Also, looking on jegs at new models this one in particular caught my attention:

http://www.jegs.com/i/Powermaster/713/17294/10002/-1

But what's all this about 1 wire alternators? I see the main cable going from the back of the alternator but what are the extra 2 smaller wires that connect to the side of mine by a harness?

 

It may last a month it may only last a few hours. When my alt. went, I had no warning and it left me stranded and forced me to pay an $80 dollar towing fee to get it home.

You can chance it, but be prepaired to get stranded.

 

Camaro1185 is 100% right. If you have a bearing whine in the alternator, it could go at any time. They seem to have a way of knowing when it's midnight and you're 30 miles from home. Personally, I wouldn't chance it.
A one wire alternator has a single wire that runs from the bat (large post) on the alt to pos of your battery. I've built a lot of them, and always had good luck with them. It's not a big deal to convert the older type alt. to a one wire. Just get a one wire voltage reg and replace the 2 prong. The newer cs130 small alts are a little more complicated, but they can be changed over, too.

 

So on our cars what exactly is the purpose of the smaller 2 wire hanress that plugs into the top of the alternator and how can you convert this setup to a 1 wire?

 

Can someone also explain to me what is up with the way the belts are setup on my car?

The engine has 3 belts. The first belt is a V-belt that goes from the crank to the power steering. The second belt is a V-belt that goes from the crank to the smog pump, but the third belt is a serpentine style that goes from the crank to the water pump and alternator!?

 

That's the way the factory did it on some cars from 1985 - 1987. It's a great setup - I just swapped my 1992 serp setup for it. The alternator is important, as is water pump, so they get a serp. P/S and smog not needed to get home, so they get a v. Makes a nice clean bay. I have my smog removed, as well as my A/C, and hated the big ugly serp brackets, so I swapped to your setup and relocated my alternator to pass side, and my bay is nice and clean now!

Unless you want the chrome fan (because the rest of that Powermaster is NOT chrome), I'd simply get a stock replacement from Advance or Autozone - cheaper than that Powermaster and no shipping!

 

I was actually looking at the Jegs replacement model for $100. 100 amp and chrome plated. The only problem is #1 It's v-belt so I'd need a different pully and #2 It's a 1 wire alt so I'd have to do a conversion.

I'll take a look at the summit brand ones as well.

A bit off topic, but with this hybrid type belt system I have in my car, does anyone know if I'd be able to run a vortech supercharger off the serp belt that runs to my alt and water pump or would I have to convert to full serp?

 

I've just always heard to stay away from the 1-wire jobs. I've been told (and read on TGO) that they suck - all they do is make voltage, totally unregulated. You have to have an external voltage regulator to run it through so you don't fry your new technology stuff, and they never worked well either - I remember replacing voltage regulators on our old 1970's cars all the time.

Also, not sure how you'd get the pulley off and get it replaced - most alternators come with the pulleys pressed on these days, and I wouldn't know an easy way with home shop tools to do that.

If it were me, I'd stick with stock style - if you want chrome, I'm sure someone makes it. But to each his own.

 

Weird. I've run one wires on a test bench for 3-4 hours with almost zero variance on totally regulated voltage.
I can't say one way or the other about late model electronics systems having problems, though. They DO operate longer on lower amp alternators, I have to admit. But higher amp alts have greater internal heat build up.
Put one on a friend's pickup 6 years ago, and it's still running.
Maybe I just got lucky over the 7 years or so that I built the things.
Reliability? Pretty good. Unregulated voltage output..incorrect. With a good (TransPo or similar) SE regulator, voltage output is regulated to aprox 14-14.2 volts. An SE alternator, however, does require, normally, 1k engine rpm to "kick in" the regulator.
My knowledge on these things is limited, though, having only spent about 16 years (and building over 2000 of them) in the reman business. Warranty return rate averaged 3-4 % overall.
You can do the job yourself. Open the alternator (mark the 2 halves for realignment in reassembly), remove the stator (the winding with the 3 leads) and this exposes the rectifier, resistor, capacitor, and voltage reg. Remove the reg, replace with your SE unit, reassemble. Good time to replace the bearings, also. Just don't fracture the housing when you knock them out.
The two wires on your plug/harness, for simplicity...supply the energizing voltage to your 3 wire alternator.
If you pull the pulley, you're gonna need a 1/2 air impact gun with socket, as those nuts are on there tight.
Whatever you decide to do, it's your car, your time, and your dime.

 

Well, I'm no expert - just what I've heard and read.

 

My 84s alt. also had a bad squeeling bearing.
The bearing kit was $20 bucks not to mention the hassle trying to press
the old/new bearings in and out at home.
Pep Boys has a 94 amp reman replacement for $49 bucks.
I will note that the ones they had in stock had a serpentine pulley.
I had my old one with me and they swapped my v-belt pulley onto
the new one free.

Done in 20 minutes!

 

Just to update everyone, the alternator had It's final cruise tonight. On the way home, the whining was so bad it sounded like I had a supercharger in the car. At idle, the voltage would drop to around 11 - 12 and the lights would dim/car would almost stall.

I drove all the way home at night with the lights turned off and holding gears to keep the engine in the upper RPM range, since I was losing power below 2000RPM.

I pulled the alternator and am going to the local speed shop monday to see what all they have.

 

sounds like you had shorted diodes or stator windings
with that one,not all that common on "SI"type delco
alternators,but quite common to have shorted diodes
on "CS 130"alternators-happened to me a few times,
they made a whining noise,got real hot with light load,
had reduced voltage output.