when replacing your alternator Did any one ever have to adjust the spacer on the bottom of the alternator ( the part of the alternator where everyone has a problem to find the last bolt ) .because my keeps working itself loose and causing the alternator to rattle/shake .... am i the only one or maybe it just my autozone alternator ?

 

its the autozone alternator.. i had a similar problem with the alternator not fitting correctly.. return that crap..

 

My autozone alternator bolted on just fine, and I believe it is rattle free to this point (around 10K miles)

If theres spacing issue, does the alternator have some play, say if i were to open my hood and attempt to wiggle it around?

 

yea i had to adjust it. make sure you are actually tightening the big bolt tight enough...

 

you can move that spacer if necessary. might need to tap it with a hammer.

 

haha this brings back horrible nightmares on my alternator replacement....

basically no the rebuilt alternator you got should have the spacer IN THE HOLE but its about 50% in there, once you tighten the bolt the spacer moves in and the whole assembly should sit really tight in there, i know mine did, and i realized this after looking at my old alternator that i took out

So if the rebuild quality sucked, they reused the old spacer and when you picked up the alternator you should see the spacer 100% in the hole, which it should not be...

 

i just ended going to home depot..picking up some spacers and dropping them in the gap that the spacer left and put back the alternator in .... worked like a charm.. everything A.. ok!

 

well if you solved the problem thats all that counts, but its not the OEM solution if you know what i mean...enjoy the car again

 

Sorry to resurrect from the dead but I'm having a similar issue and I think others will too - my long bolt isn't going all the way through, probably because the spacer on my new (not reman) alternator is sticking out too far.

Is this something you're supposed to test-fit outside the car first or is there no such thing as the spacer being in too far, you just need it to thread into the nut (or maybe that was OP's problem?)

I'm not home right now to check, but is it possible to push the spacer in further while it's still on the car or do you need a hammer?

 

New alternator yoou say? And where exactly you got this "new alternator"? The dealer only sells reman alternators which I went and bought one after the crappy AZ ones.. As far as the spacer, you have to take it out. It is very snug and will require a hammer.

 

I got a Bosch AL2365N (not OEM Hitachi, but completely new) on Amazon for $122 shipped. Hope others see the tip about the spacer - it was a pain to get that thing in there in the first place.

 

so whats with the napa alty's whining and im on my second one??? at first i thought it was the ac compressor but it was doing this in the winter too??? ( no thread jacker here )

 

Never used a Napa alty but what brand do they use? If its making noise, its probably one of the two bearings inside the alternator.

 

the bolt should go in all the way unless the spacer is sitting WAY out. my duracrap alty went in just fine from the bottom and then when I tightened the back bolt all the way the spacer snapped into place where it should have.

now I have a new problem - the alternator doesn't work at first start up. it has to spin around for a minute or so to warm up before it starts working. I totally don't understand that.

 

As you no doubt know, it shouldn't do that. You can replace the alternator now or wait til later when it dies altogether.

 

yeah I know. I just really don't wanna mess with it. I seriously went through 4 different alternators in my car before this one worked. when it does fail, I'll just get my money back and get an oreily alty.

 

My new Bosch one doesn't seem to be working either - battery is like 12.1v with car on and 12.5v with it off. Before I remove it are there any other likely reasons for this? I checked the alt fuse, made sure it's spinning and connectors are on. I broke some plastic off the 2-pin connector (harness side) when unplugging the old one. It's a little loose but still has to be pulled out to be removed. I also damaged one of the two sub-harnesses that plug into the battery cable at the terminal (old one was corroded badly so I replaced the whole cable). I still see voltage at that cable and at the alternator positive bolt when car is on, it's just 12.x and not 14+. Can most auto-parts stores bench-test alternators?

 

regarding the original topic, my new one alt had the spacer all the way out and my old one had it almost all the way in so I had to adjust the spacer in quite a bit to get it so the bolt to go through.

 

It is a defect these aftermarket companies are not realizing. I had that problem and showed them at AZ a while back and they pulled out another two from storage and realized all of them were like that compared to the original. The associate took a hammer and hammered in the spacer for me. I just didn't feel safe doing it because somehow the shell cracked on mine when it was in the car.

 

i need a pic of this spacer, i keep hearing whining and never did on the stock one until bearings were almost shot. 1st napa alternator went bad in 8 months, the new ones only 5 weeks old and allready whinig.

 

I put an AZ alternator in last year on my 99 and had no spacer issues. Already put over 25K miles on it since and still running perfectly. Did the remanufacturer fix the problem or is the 99 slightly different like the EGR system? Of all the 4th gen Maximas, the 99 has a completely different EGR system.

 

It's the round piece of metal inside the pivot bolt hole on the side you'd install the bolt from. On my new alternator it was shiny metal and stuck out about half an inch at least - had to be hammered into almost flush (use your old alternator as a guide to get the spacing right, if it's in or out too far you wouldn't be able to install it). FWIW, I don't think a spacer issue would cause it to whine - perhaps your alt/AC belt is on too tight?