Rep Power: 812

I've only had the car 3 years and today the battery light comes on. Well when I was driving earlier, I kept hearing this 1-second chirp noise everytime I would accelerate from a stop. Ever since it broke, I don't hear the noise. Well I had it checked and its the alternator, which I figured anyway. So what do I do? I drove back home on battery power and got down to 11.5v and gotta try and drive to dealer next week...but you know what they'll say right? Oh sorry the aftermarket pullies caused it to fail. I'm never going back if they say that.

 
Rep Power: 453

Do you have an extended warranty?

If not, it is really easy to install the alternator with a new one. You basically take off the belt, undo about 4 bolts and a wire or 2 and remove it and install the new one, then put a new belt on.

If you are going to reuse the pullies, you will have to swap them out, otherwise the rebuilt/remanufactured alternator will come with a new pulley on it. there isnt new alternators, just remans.

Now what you can do if you want to save money is rebuld the alternator.

 
Rep Power: 812

i have extended warranty, so I'm assuming they'll fix it. Hmm i went through this same thing with my old 87 jetta. Alternator kept going bad so I hope that won't happen with this car and a refurb one. This sucks. I'll see what they say monday

 
Rep Power: 0

I replaced mine about the same time, ive also had it for 3 years

 
Rep Power: 0

DO NOT break the bolt under the rubber cap like I did when you take the alternaor off (see arrow) - it'll cost you, to the tune of a new alternator.



I took the alternator apart, which was a job in itself, expecting to replace the broken bolt but it wasn't to be. See the bolt dosen't come out.



There you go. Be careful, and don't do it. It cost me $280 beans for a new alternator from Honda.

 
Rep Power: 302

Whoa... those windings look a little baked on that alternator. BTW, that bolt can be pressed out. It has a spline on it.

Anyway..... it's not just Honda's alternator. My nissan ran 160,000 miles with the original alternator. I re-brushed it at about 90k. When the diode pack fried I decided to just replace the whole thing. Well, 4 bosch remanufactured alternators in 3 months led me to find an ORIGINAL Nissan unit. No problems at all. Point is, there are batches of bad or inferior alternators out there. A good one should last around 100k.

When my civic unit dies, I'll just rebuild it with heavy duty parts.

Good luck Gearbox.