Hello!
My car is the Canadian model, and I've been through 3 alternators in the past 6 months. The original alternator had bad bearings, and I had it changed by a mechanic, since I was away at school and didn't have access to a garage. The mechanic overtightened the belt, and within 5 months the second alternator went out, again with bad bearings. The next alternator I put in charged poorly- the headlights did a weird bright-dim, bright-dim thing. I had the alternator tested and it tested bad. I replaced it under warranty. Now the replacement alternator, which has been in my car less than 2 weeks, has blown out without any warning- no noise, no weird headlight behavior, nothing. I was just suddenly driving on a draining battery.
So to sum up: The original and first replacement alts died of bad bearings. The second replacement alt caused weird headlight issues. The third alt just up and died unexpectedly. All within months or weeks of each other.
The battery and alternator belt are both 2 months old. I've double-checked (since the mechanic had overtightened the old belt) that the new belt has proper tension.
Are there any underlying problems that might cause this? Has anyone else had a '98 Canadian Civic chew through alternators? Are rebuilt alternators (these all happen to be the same kind, under the original warranty, from Advance Auto) known to be this unreliable? Any other thoughts?
Thanks
--Erin
My car is the Canadian model, and I've been through 3 alternators in the past 6 months. The original alternator had bad bearings, and I had it changed by a mechanic, since I was away at school and didn't have access to a garage. The mechanic overtightened the belt, and within 5 months the second alternator went out, again with bad bearings. The next alternator I put in charged poorly- the headlights did a weird bright-dim, bright-dim thing. I had the alternator tested and it tested bad. I replaced it under warranty. Now the replacement alternator, which has been in my car less than 2 weeks, has blown out without any warning- no noise, no weird headlight behavior, nothing. I was just suddenly driving on a draining battery.
So to sum up: The original and first replacement alts died of bad bearings. The second replacement alt caused weird headlight issues. The third alt just up and died unexpectedly. All within months or weeks of each other.
The battery and alternator belt are both 2 months old. I've double-checked (since the mechanic had overtightened the old belt) that the new belt has proper tension.
Are there any underlying problems that might cause this? Has anyone else had a '98 Canadian Civic chew through alternators? Are rebuilt alternators (these all happen to be the same kind, under the original warranty, from Advance Auto) known to be this unreliable? Any other thoughts?
Thanks
--Erin
