Altering my Alternator

[Howard L Tan]

I've been working on my car off and on for the past 9 months. I upgraded my tranny from a tail shifter to a side shifter. I'm actually very proud of myself for getting as far as I've gone from knowing next to nothing about cars to knowing a little bit about something about cars.

Well anyway, as I was reconnecting all my wires back to the places where I think they belong. I think I may have shorted out the diodes in my alternator by connecting the red wire to ground.

I think this is very bad for the alternator. I was wondering is it worth it to get all the diodes and stuff to repair the alternator myself? Or should I just grind my teeth and go buy myself a rebuilt alternator? I know in the Haynes book, it details all the steps to replace the diodes. Has anybody out there tried to replace the diodes on the alternator?

Howard

[Sharkbait]

You might try to have your alternator rebuilt by someone who does it all the time. Its not too expensive to do. I just had mine done locally for 70 bucks but beware- after installing my rebuilt alternator, the alternator belt kept comming off . No matter how tight I made it - it would still come off and snap in two. I finally got under the car and noticed the alignment was way off. As it turned out- the person who rebuilt my alternator put the pully wheel on backwards! Is your battery not charging? You could try replacing the voltage regulator on the relay board- it is a piece of cake to replace and not expensive . Good luck!

[Howard L Tan]

Just wanted to post a follow up post.

Don't bother refurbishing your alternator (unless you're an electronic pro and think you can do everything). It ain't worth the time, and if you're mechanically dyslexic like me you'll need all the time you can muster just to install the damn thing. I think you'd have to be a double jointed little monkey to effective and efficiently work on my car. Bottom line just get a rebuilt alternator they are definitely a timesaver.

Howard