Notices

My car eats alternators...

Thread Tools
 
Old 01-27-2004, 04:38 PM
  #1  
91TEG4DR
Registered User
Thread Starter
 
91TEG4DR's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Pacifica, CA
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default My car eats alternators...

I have had my 91 Integra RS for almost a year. It has gonr through 4 alternators in this time. (Im about to install a fifth) My last alternator crapped out after only 2 days. The others have lasted a week to 5 months. What could be causing this? Eating alternators is an expensive habit.
Old 01-28-2004, 12:18 PM
  #2  
91TEG4DR
Registered User
Thread Starter
 
91TEG4DR's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Pacifica, CA
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Could it be a relay...
Old 01-28-2004, 02:12 PM
  #3  
slammed91-hatch
Registered User
 
slammed91-hatch's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Washington State
Posts: 1,127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

are you buying cheap refurbished ones? Do you have like an insane stereo system that sucks a lot of power? you shouldn't be going through alternators like this.
Old 01-28-2004, 10:03 PM
  #4  
v-teg01
Candy
 
v-teg01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Northeast Illinois
Posts: 468
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Originally Posted by slammed91-hatch
are you buying cheap refurbished ones? Do you have like an insane stereo system that sucks a lot of power? you shouldn't be going through alternators like this.
agreed if you have gauges or if you have been spilffing wires you are probably running too much juice through them.
Old 01-30-2004, 11:12 AM
  #5  
ShadowBlasko
Registered User
 
ShadowBlasko's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

One thing that will cause a teg to eat alternators, (although, two days is insane, that was definitely either a bad alternator or a wiring problem) is something I found out the hard way.

If you play around a lot under the hood or with the works around the drivers side wheel, you may have removed one of the plastic splash shields either under the car or in the drivers side wheel well. (I removed mine because it was broken .. thinking ..eh... I'll replace it when I get around to it).

Removing the one beneath the engine near the drivers side wheel well caused a great deal of water to splash up on the alternator if I hit puddles or I was driving during rain. This caused me to run through three alternators in a year before I found out what the problem was.

Just a thought.
Old 01-30-2004, 10:27 PM
  #6  
+ve psi
Registered User
 
+ve psi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: BC, Canada
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Also check your battery. An older or pour condition battery will lose it charge at rest faster which means that every morning you start your car with just barely enough juice and then your alternater has to work hard to charge it. An alternator is designed to keep a fully charged battery charged up, they are not designed to recharge a dead battery. One of the fastest ways to kill an alternator is using it to charge your dead battery when you left the lights on or something.

Good Luck
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Cosmo M3
The Basement
100
05-09-2004 04:16 PM
JimCarryFanz
The Basement
52
05-04-2004 11:46 PM
SaviouR
The Basement
22
03-26-2004 05:49 AM
kazi
News & Rumors Archives
4
08-16-2003 02:38 PM
CivicSiRacer
Track & Autocross
3
08-16-2002 09:17 AM



Quick Reply: My car eats alternators...



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:42 AM.