Thread: Alternator issue?

Sunday my wife was driving the g20 and the radio cycled off and on a couple times and then the car stopped. I did the normal diagnosing stuff and it turned out to be the alternator (so i thought). I changed the alternator out yesterday and put a new serpentine belt on as well. We have put about 50 miles on teh car. Today she was going in to work and the car did the same thing. I read this thread http://www.sr20-forum.com/general-sr20/56555-wtf-now-my-brake-light-n-baterry-light-r.html Is the advanced alternators as crappy as the autozone ones? Does it sound like there can be a bad ground or a short somewhere?

The car just started this it has never had an electrical issue before. The battery is new as well and i cleaned and made sure everything was tight on my connections. Any advice? Take the alternator back? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Yes. OEM only on starters and alternators. No exceptions.

Yes take it back. Have them test it for free. It will turn out to be bad. When it fails, don't get a replacement, get a refund. Buy a proper OEM alternator used from someone on the forum, or rebuild your old one, or buy new from Greg.

Thanks Ben...doesnt sound like a short or nothing? The car will run fine with jumper cables on it attached to my ser as soon as you take it off it dies. Sorry if these seem like dumb questions but im just know vernturing into actually trying to fix things myself

Might be worth having the battery tested too then.
If you sit there with jumper cables connected for a long time, or use a battery charger to get the battery filled again, does it then die instantly when you take the cables off?
Sounds to me like new alternator died, and the new battery drained, and now you have a dead battery, and a bad alternator. Battery might also have taken a dump due to the single full drain, but I doubt it...

lets not forget Axles.

you can get them from schucks or autozone but ask for rebuilt units.

Yea its a month old interstate but it did drain it all the way. I dont have a proper charger at my disposal. I let it run a half hour ( i know thats not long) with the jumpers on and when i pulled them it only ran for like 30 seconds without the jumpers

Hmm... A half hour should have gotten you much more than 30 seconds worth of running... I'd be testing that battery and alternator ASAP.

On my old nx,i went thru 5 alternators within a year,,,,,lifetime warranty bullshit.i had,it,down,to,chane one in under 20 min.....and the pulley sizes somwhow were difeernt everytime as well...

That guy Andreas Miko sells some nice OEM JDM alts with low miles on the. Check him out, I think he wants $78 shipped for them.

thats a freakin good deal!! i'd def hit that guy up fo sho.