i swear to almighty god i am ripping my stereo out of the car and i'll ride with no tunes, seriously, i know it isn't quite hooked up right but all i dd was hook it into the ignition because there was no 12V constant wire in my car, and this is my 3rd alternator in 4 months, anyone got another reason this would be happeneing?

 

Well besides the junk alternator you've been running Duracrap wasnt it? A **** poor battery connection can be overworking it causing it to go out faster, too much amperage draw causing it to work constantly and harder. its hard to say for sure. double check all connections. And it wouldnt hurt to add a bigger charge wire from alternator to battery

 

hey it seems like your always helping me with alternator stuff, thnx, anyway is the charge wire a red wire or is the red wire the plug that plugs in, and what about the ground? seriously i'm half tempted to let a garage fix the damn thing, and is my radio hook up the cause? no 12V constant

 

idk why but i loved the first sentence in this!! LOL

 

mine or his?

 

the one i quoted lol, the duracrap one xD

 

are they that bad of alternators, should i get a delco one instead, or whoever else makes them, autozone and advanced dont carry any other ones i dont think, what about napa?

 

its the bigger wire by itself. I would run an AC DELCO one. Ive even had better luck with the autolite brand but that's hard to come by too. Most radio's dont require to be hooked to a 12v constant, they can be hooked to switched 12v. meaning when the key is on the radio can work. the 12v constant is an option on that to be able to run your radio w/o the key on. Also if you have a small short, maybe not enough to take your battery low. But small enough to drain your battery down, therefore when you start the car the alternotor goes into full charge mode that'll burn it out faster too.


And to Mokie. You welcome. I try to bring joy to others.

 

its gonna suck checking the whole car for shorts, loose grounds and all that, but its gonna have to be done, and could i get autozone to refund my $90 so i could get a delco alternator? or will they just replace it with another duracrap one

 

I am not sure if they will refund it. I think you can make a case that well this is my 4th alternator and its apparent I cannot get a good one from you guys so i'd like my money back to be able to buy a higher quality part. Talk to the store manager, if he says no. Then talk to the disrict manager. If he say's no then you'd wanna talk to his manager etc...

 

well heres hoping i dont have to talk to the ceo of autozone

 

I've had good luck with Duralast. That you've been unlucky enough to have had three consecutive defective units would seem questionable, but anything is possible, I guess. I'd be surprised if the issue lies with the alternator itself (I've been surprised many times)

JamesC

 

3 alts in 4mos? You have a wiring problem. Undercover is right check batt pos and neg connections and all wiring in the charging circiut, not just at the battery, but at other ends, starter conn. , body and engine grounds etc.
I know that a bad fusible link in the pos. side will take alts out. There should be two or three down by the starter, replace them all. They corrode on the inside where you can't see them. I've run into this problem on more than one 80's gm product.....

 

The 12v constant is what keeps your presets and clock correct when you turn off the key.

as for the ALT, if you burn out alts that quick, then there is diffently something wired wrong. The post on the back of the alt is what runs to the post on the starter thats the charge wire. the alt ground through the alt body and into the bracket its bolted to and into the engine. no wire coming from the alt needs to be hooked up to a ground.

 

FUSIBLE LINKS!

 

if they fusable links were blown, the alt just wouldnt charge the battery and other stuff in the car wouldnt work, because it wouldnt be getting power.

 

Not the case, there is an old Tech. Serv. Bulletin on these from GM. I've have seen it on AllData and Mitchells, they ohm out ok when car is off, but when hot and running they become intermittent due to corrosion, peel back the insulation before and after the fusible link, chances are they are greenish blue, the wire should be clean copper. I had an 89 Caprice in the shop about 1 month ago w/ the exact problem. He had it to two shops before mine, and two alts installed. It's worth checking out. But hey what do I know, I only fix these cars for a living.....

 

Ah, i thought you were implying they were just blown.

 

No if you read the post it says they are bad due to corrosion....

 

honestly i just skimmed through some of the posts.

 

well i got a new duralast on today, i cleaned the terminals, the red (positive) one was heavily corroded but not anymore, i had a loose ground , not sure what its to it was on the core support right next to the battery, i have checked all my fuses and grounds that i know of (mostly just in the engine compartment) and i also pulled the ac fuse, as i have been runnign the ac in the car lately and thats when my first duralast blew, could it have been from water getting in, it has been storming quite a bit here lately, and the post on the back the (ground) has always been fryed, the rubber bushing around it has been melted to the alt when i check them, i was told it could be wires on the starter, cant check them till i can get the car jacked up or on a lift, as far as i know they should be fine then again, the whole car should be fine

 

my positive terminal being so corroded it wasn't making a good connection?

 

the post on the back of the ALT isnt the ground, its for the wire that charges the battery. if you have that hooked up to a ground, youre going to burn out a lot of things when you start the car.

 

idk what the hell it goes to i cant follow it, i lose it in different parts of the engine bay, i think it goes to the battery

 

it should go from the alt to the batt post on the starter.

 

and the main + wire should go from the battery to the same post on the starter.

 

maybe it goes there, idk like i said i cant follow it, i know that even with a dead alt the car still starts just wont run very long, plus you cant brake the tailights kill it, but thats with no alt, i'd love to get the car on a lift so i could look at it better, just wondering if a wire like say that one is shorting and pulling to many amps through my alt and frying them how much would it cost for a new one?

 

if that wire rubs and grounds out at any point, it could cause issues. you should get the car in the air and trace that cable and make sure its not grounding out anywhere. and check the fusable links.

 

by fuseable links you mean? what the wires in the plug that connect to it?

 

no, on the same post on the starter, there will be some wires with black bulges on them. those black bulges are the fusable links.

 

oh thank you, sorry i am completely electronically incompetent

 

dang your threads get popular too popular for me to read through! good luck and i hope it is all taken care of

 

haha thanks, nice to be the popular guy for once

and thanks, hope my cars as nice as yours one day


anyway check everywhere you guys said, and well everything seems fine its all tight and clean and dry and no corrosion, battery is up to about 13 volts again and all seams well, now if it lasts for hmmmm about 5 yrs or so that way i'll be happy haha

 

Have you had the "bad" alternators checked... or did you just replace them when they didn't appear to work in the car?

 

all checked, all failed, i know there remanned duralasts but u love the lifetime warranty on them right now lol