I've been dealing with this noise for well over a month and a half. It is coming from the alternator and im sure because i did the "screw driver" test to see where the sound was coming from. The car seems to run perfectly fine except that i've noticed that even at idle, when i rev, my headlights get brighter, im not sure if this is normal or if its caused by the alternator.

anyways, you guys think I should bother cashing out the money to replace the alternator or just leave it alone and invest the money into mods. there is no battery light or anything on. and what do you think is wrong with the damn thing?

thanks in advance.

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p.s the noise gradually decreases as the car warms up but it never goes away.

 

man i hate to tell you but i ran into that problem about a month ago, took it to the mechanic and had to pay $445 to fix it. They said there was a chance that it could just cut out and i would lose all power. the mechanic said i probably ran into the problem because my ground came lose on my system and it was sparking so they said it damaged the alternator. u may not have to replace it but i know i did just in case... good luck

 

yeah dude your alternator is getting ready to take a shizz. just get a refurb. one from autozone or pepboys or w/e and put it in yourself. before you do that have the dealer run your vin to see if you're included in the alternator recall.

 

goto a rebuild place and get one from there, they tend to replace most of the bad components and resell for $100 or so. the labor would be about 2 hours im guessing, they have to go thrugh the compressor to get to the alternator. i paid $240 including labor

 

i got quoted $160 for a rebuilt one installed by my mechanic and mine is not included in the recall

alternator swap @ 36k pisses me off

 

yeah when i did mine i paid right around $150 IIRC. the install wasn't too bad, i just had to pull the radiator and loosen the ac compressor to be able to pull the alternator towards the front of the car and out the bottom. took about an hour and a half including cigarette breaks (there were alot of those)