do the brake and/or battery light always illuminate before / when the alternator flakes out? in other words, can the alternator be bad even if the brake and/or battery lights never turned on (when running)?

is it possible to finagle the alternator out (and get the new one in) without dropping the ac compressor (or taking out the radiator fans)? has anyone successfully done so?

thanks to all who respond for your time and pertinent input.

 

The radiator fans are very easy to take out once your coolant is drained and coolant hoses removed of course. I see your in chicago though, and me being from chicago, I obviously know the weather here is not ideal for staying outside doing this. Do you have a garage to work in? If so, I would just remove the fans. Not sure if its necessary though...

And to answer your other question, I do believe some people here were able to get the alternator out without removing the compressor. Do a search through google web and images here on the forum.

 

Do you have a multi-meter? Measure battery voltage when car is running, it should be around 14.5v when alternator is charging.

You have to remove fan, there is no enough space with fan in, you don't have to take AC compressor out, but you do need to drop AC compressor, do not let it hangs on the hoses, support it underneath with a jack stand or something, there should be enough room to remove alternator out after AC compressor is dropped and out of the way.

 

over the last several years, per multimeter, I used to show ~13.9v at idle and >14.3v when slightly revved; but when I checked it last week I only had ~ 13.1v and 13.4v when slightly revved; that's why i'm thinking it may be on its way out.

but I still don't have either of the brake or battery lights on and I noticed that most seem to get this; maybe my voltage isn't low enough yet or maybe those light don't always go on when the alternator goes bad. so i'm still wondering about this. I previously searched and see where most everyone drops (and supports) ac compressor and doesn't remove radiator fans but noticed at least one say that they got alt out without dropping ac compressor so that's why I wondered if that's really possible/feasible and was looking for confirmation from someone else who had actually been able to fenagle it out without messing with the ac compressor.

I no longer have access to a garage to work in but if anyone knows of a place that rents garage space for a couple days on the north-side of Chicago or the near north suburbs, or of a reasonable honest competent mechanic (home-mechanic is fine), please let me know.

thanks for the good input so far.

 

Yeah a little odd that the lights never showed. Mine flashed (then went away) about a week before the alternator was toast.

 

Well, one thing you can do, clean ground connection on the engine block then measure voltage again.

 

No ... the alternator can't be removed without moving the A/C compressor. To clarify, the A/C compressor does not need to removed ... it just needs to be unbolted and displaced to give room to remove the alternator. Honestly, although a little time consuming, it's not complicated. It's just nuts and bolts.

The radiator fan assembly does not need to be removed or even touched to complete this R&R.

I completed this procedure 3 times this past fall.

 

thanks everyone (especially turbobink). I figured i'd have to move the ac comp; the grounds should be good walkinator (grounding kit put on ~ 2 years ago & cleaned all existing connection points pretty good at that time).

wife just reported "funny smell" coming from under the hood (but still no idiot light) so i may be replacing this sooner than i hoped to have to.

if it does need replacement, anyone have any experience with rebuilding it themselves or know of a reputable rebuild shop near chicago? I've seen so many posts of people getting bad rebuilt ones from places that i'm hesitant to take a chance on them for i don't want to have to do this job twice! thanks again in advance for everyone's input.

 

just got back in from checking alternator and it's toast; battery reads just under 12.6v with the car off but when running multimeter only reads just over 12v and when revved a little it reads just over 12.2v. she said it smelled "electrically" and "burnt rubbery" and it may have made a "knockingish" sound right around the same time. now, the belt still looks fine, no noticeable smell and it spins without noise. no obvious loose connection and the 7.5amp alt-s fuse is good.

any informed opinions on what to do now... should I go new bosch alt or what's the best brand of reman alt or should I rebuild what I have. thanks for any helpful input.

 

I know people who have purchased a Bosch manufactured alternators for their Nissans from NAPA with excellent results.

I've had good results with Remy Rebuilt alternators from Mexico. I've seen people get new alternators that were made in China and have problems within a week or less.

While it is not a hard job, it is a job you don't want to repeat. If I had to buy another alternator tomorrow, I would go with a Bosch rebuilt from NAPA.

 

Well, if your wife smells something "burning" then it definitely is the alternator, this exactly happened to me, wife came home telling me that she smelled something "burning", but when I opened hood, I didn't smell anything, turn on the car, no smell so I thought it was smell from outside air coming to the cabin. Next day, the car was dead on road, lost all power, all dash lights were off, battery completely drained. Called AAA to get the car towed home, took out the battery, sent to Autozone tested and recharged, put battery back, fired the car with hood opened, I literately saw sparks inside the alternator then the alternator winding became red! So alternator is fired. By the way, before this happened, I heard faint whining sound whenever I turn on the radio, I thought it was bad ground somewhere but it was actually alternator on its way out.

I guess you can try not to remove radiator fan, but you have to go under the car to drop the alternator, I removed fan and I was able to remove alternator from top. AC compressor is in the way, if you don't move AC compressor out of the way, you won't be able to access one long alternator mounting bolt on the lower back side, so you have to take AC compressor out of the way, it was hold by 4 bolts, loosen them up and move AC compressor out of the way, do not need to disconnect hoses, just move to side and support it by a jack stand or a wood block. Space is tight, with AC compressor and lower radiator hose there, you need wiggle a little bit to get alternator out and put back in. The job may take you about 2 hours but it is not too bad.

 

would you buy a new bosch al2365n for~ $140, a rebuilt bosch al2365x for ~ $210 or have my original nissan hitachi lr1125702-b (that lasted for 190k) rebuilt (new bearing, capacitor, rectifier, regulator, brush-holder and brushes; supposedly oem hitachi parts) for $120 by 911 volts corp in elk grove village, il? thanks for any guidance.

 

I went with Bosch Re-manufactured Alternator from JC Whitney (http://www.jcwhitney.com/remanufactu...d1089y1998g2j1). Been good so far - about 10,000 miles and a cross country trip from California to Wisconsin.

 

I bought with Bosch reman alternator from Autozone and it is working fine so far, there are 2 different voltages if I remember it correctly, go with higher voltage one.

 

Walkinator, I think you meant to say amps.