Alternator Failure?

[Sonic dB]

.Carrera.

[Kurt B]

But the belt is broken right?
If it overheated and you ended up driving home on what was left on your battery, then belt must have snapped.
Smoke?
How far did you drive it like that?
The oil temp may not rise in proportion to the head temperature from what Wayne has said in the past, so the oil temp may not be a good indicator in this particular case.
(because the oil will heat up long after the heads, no longer being cooled by the rush of air have heated up).

[Sonic dB]

.

[Kurt B]

then, if the fan was working and your alternator went completely dead, then you just ran the car off on whatever was left of your battery charge. I don't know about the smoke and stuff--but I've had similar experiences. I believe my 914 acted similarly when the battery actually got disconnected and it was running off the alternator!

Seems like one or the other happened.

[Sonic dB]

bump.... anyone else have any thoughts on this before I go in there taking stuff apart?

I know that I need to measure voltage to be sure.

The car started fine today and ran well in the garage, but the battery seems weak. It was raining like hell yesterday, so perhaps something got wet...

[RoninLB]

fwiw, I figure routine life of an alternator is 75k miles. Change it anyway.

[nostatic]

yes, you need to measure voltage. With the engine running at about 2K, you should see about 14V at the battery as I recall (if you do a search, I had threads on this a year or so ago). If your battery is at around 12 with the engine running, I'd say the alternator is toast. And listen to Ron...you've been living on borrowed time anyway...

[CarreraS2]

Yeah - 1500 - 2000 rpm, measure across the battery. If it's lower than 13.5 your alternator is likely weak, if it's higher than 14.2 or so you probably have a bad regulator.

[scottb]

Sonic: I had the same symptoms. It was the alternator. I had mine rebuilt at Foreign Alternators and Starters near the corner of Reseda and Parthenia in Northridge. $89 with a one-year warranty. It's been a couple of years, and no problems. They are a small shop, but do good work.

While you have it apart, now's the time to send your shroud and fan to Al Reed for polishing.

Good luck.

[Lorenfb]

"I had mine rebuilt at Foreign Alternators and Starters near the corner of Reseda and Parthenia in Northridge. $89 with a one-year warranty."

You get what you pay for! The regulator alone is about $50. They've used the old regulator
which is highly prone to overcharge.

Why would anyone put a questionable rebuilt alternator in their car especially a Porsche
where the R/R is not real easy?

[stone43]

I just put a new one in my 85, rebuilt Bosch and I had them do the labor. Cost a few hunny, mostly labor, the alternator ran around $150 I think.

Got to wipe the dust off the ol' 101 Projects book one of these days......

[scottb]

Loren: So far it's been rock solid. Time will tell, I suppose. I can only imagine what you would have said if I had installed a new performance chip. Fortunately, it's only an alternator.

PS: Loren, I just remembered that when I picked up the alternator, I commented that the regulator looked new. The guy said he replaced it. So, either he lied and just cleaned it up to make it look new, or he did a quality job. I prefer to believe the latter. As I said, time will tell.

[Sonic dB]

Thanks for the responses. Scottb, thanks for the tip on the place in Northridge. There is also a shop in Van Nuys that rebuilds and sells rebuilt alternators. I am going to pull it and send it to one of those places...

[scottb]

If you're considering Alternator and Ignition Supply in Van Nuys, be sure they have experience with this alternator. IIRC, I think I called them when mine went bad, and they sort of "hemmed and hawed" about whether they'd done them before. The guy in Northridge knew right away what it was, and even had a core in stock. AIS did an alternator for me when I had a Jensen Healey, and they did a good job. I'm sure either place will get you back on the road ASAP.

Are you going to let Al Reed do his magic to your fan and shroud while you have it apart?

[Lorenfb]

"There is also a shop in Van Nuys that rebuilds and sells rebuilt alternators. I am going to pull it and send it to one of those places..."

We'll all keep are fingers and toes crossed for you! Hopefully if it fails, you'll not be
in an undesireable location. Also, if it starts overcharging, hope you have a spare
DME control unit to use, since it's one of the first 3.2 electronics to fail.

You might try Pep Boys. They could be a couple of dollars cheaper. They have
that unlimited warranty. Obviously, the R/R labor is not included. Since you're
a DIY, who cares how many times the alt. needs to come out.

[Sonic dB]

The place in Van Nuys is called CAE. They quoted me $125 to rebuild my alternator...or $150 to buy a rebuilt one from them, with a $25 core charge. Warranty on either is 90 days. Takes one day for them to do a rebuild.

[scottb]

90 days? That doesn't inspire much confidence. Give FAS a call...they might even be open today. I think the turn-around on mine was a couple of days, but I wasn't in a big hurry (the P-car is the weekend toy).

Foreign Alternators & Starters
Address: 8652 Amigo Ave, Northridge, CA 91324
Phone: (818) 772-1700

[Lorenfb]

"Warranty on either is 90 days"

Kinda like getting one at the junk yard! Have to love it.

[Sonic dB]

Yeah true.

Loren...do you know anyone in South Bay that does alt. rebuilds? I live in Redondo....

[scottb]

If you're concerned about "low end" stuff, you might try these guys. http://www.socalaltandstart.com/index.html. They offer a three year warranty, but they were kinda spendy IIRC. You have lots of options.