5 replies to this topic

[hondaCRX]

today as i was going to work going over the golden gate bridge the battery light on my dash lit up. and stayed lit up until i rev'd it passed 3k...

**sighhh**

bought an alternator from kragen and gunna tackle this over the weekend.. does anyone suggest i do anything else while i work on her?

i actually had the water pump and t-belt done not too long ago, and filters and oil not too long either..

thanks guys!!

Edited by hondaCRX, 26 February 2009 - 11:34 PM.

[cbstdscott]

There is a special place in Hell reserved for the guy who designed the alternator placement on Hondas. The trick is to bring the alternator up from the bottom rather than try and put in in from the top.

How fresh are your plugs, cap and rotor?

Scott

[pvbcrx]

Man, is Scott right. It's a PITA to replace the alternator. I've done it twice; for some reason I've had bad luck with them on my car.

Two items that may come in handy during the job:

A sturdy metal rod or bar to pry the top of the alternator outward to apply tension to the belt. It's nice to have a helper that can do this, while you tighten the bolt in the slider thingee.

A fish scale to apply force to the belt after the alternator is bolted tight. The belt is supposed to deflect a certain amount under a certain amount of force to ensure the tension's okay. Again, have a helper pull on the fish scale to the proper force, and you can look at the deflection with a ruler. Probably overkill when a "calibrated yank" would suffice, but I figure why not do it per the FSM. Too tight and the alternator bearings could wear out prematurely, too loose and the belt will slip.

Doug

[hondaCRX]

There is a special place in Hell reserved for the guy who designed the alternator placement on Hondas. The trick is to bring the alternator up from the bottom rather than try and put in in from the top.

How fresh are your plugs, cap and rotor?

Scott

my plugs, cap and rotor are pretty fresh. about a year now i believe. i have yet to get under my 90 integra and work on the alternator. im praying it wont give out anytime soon since youre going to need to remove an axle for that one!! hahahaha grrrrrrrrreat!


i worked on my alternator ALL yesterday... and let me tell you... what a pain in the BUTT.

everything was going easy with the first bolt. took the driver side front wheel off to get to the second one. THAT bolt wasn't budging kinda stripped it a little and tried for hours different ways to loosen it. i ended up using a sawsall and cutting through and chizeling the nut off of that bolt. the bolt was so rusted even the alternator wouldnt move from a regular push of my hand. i had to use a crow bar to move it around to loosen it up. but after all that it was a breeze putting everything back together. yay!!

thanks guys!

Edited by hondaCRX, 28 February 2009 - 05:07 PM.

[C8V6C]

Yeah, you just have to manuever it in there from the bottom...not too hard. When you are getting your hands dirty, it will make sense

***Nevermind, saw you already attempted it

[TeninoFred]

Just wanted to mention that when the alt quits charging it is usually just the brushes that need to be replaced. I did mine a while back. I was going to put in a new alt, but my Honda tech friend said the aftermarket alts are really not very good and cost way more than a new set of brushes. I got a new brush set for $25, replaqced the old ones and it was back to normal in a flash. So it's not very hard once you get the alt out and saves a bunch of money.

Fred