Motor swaps always come with problems...

[devon527]

My original motor ran great, just burned alot of oil and had sort of high mileage so I bought a new motor with 110,xxx miles on it. The swap was easy, just took time waiting for parts and a extra hand every now and then.

Well since I had to use my 88 alternator to keep the wiring simple, I jsut swapped it. Ran fine for about two weeks, then the lights dimmed, stereo shut off but the car still ran. I figured it was the alternator but I was confused because I unhooked the battery and the car still ran. My dad burned himself putting his hand on the alternator and said that he thought the bearing had froze in it.

I tried to wire in my 91 alternator but didnt know what the small two wires were, and someone on here jsut said to splice them into the regular harness. I did this and started it up and smoke came out from the main fuse area...

So I bought a new alternator, put it in yesterday, and now it sounds liek I have a turbo under the hood. The belt is tight but not too tight, and its only charging at 13 volts and not 14.5 like its supposed to. Whats wrong?

AND now to top it off, sounds liek I need a new water pump, I'm jsut going to swap the one out of my 88 motor If I can. This is really getting old. I'm tired of working on this thing.

Sorry, there's my rant for the day.

[FestYboy]

bad alt, take it back and have the next one tested before you leave with it.

[devon527]

I did though... they tested it and said eveything went through fine

[festivBS]

The smoking of the main relay might be due to a short somewhere.. when i wired in my alternator i (for some reason) took of the insulator on the positive stud that sticks out from the alternator and the power wire was grounding out on the alternator itself. Fixed it by puttin a rubber hose over the stud using it as an insulator hope this information is useful to you

[devon527]

The smoking of the main relay might be due to a short somewhere.. when i wired in my alternator i (for some reason) took of the insulator on the positive stud that sticks out from the alternator and the power wire was grounding out on the alternator itself. Fixed it by puttin a rubber hose over the stud using it as an insulator hope this information is useful to you

I dont quite understand that... Its one of those days for me, lol

[Flyin4stroke]

It's just how it is. I took mine out yesterday got to the gas station noticed it idling high so I checked all of my connections and everything looked good. So i shut the car off to get gas then it wouldn't start. Get a jump from a buddy and the car lights go dim when I take the jumper cables off. So I went got another battery threw it in and drove it home. Now I also have a bad alt. Lol this is great. Best part is that I left my truck out at the coast where I am working so now I am car less. Makes it hard to go get parts.

[devon527]

Ah no way, thats terrible. However, my car stays at 12 volts after its shut off, but at idle its 13 volts... is that enough?

[Flyin4stroke]

13 at idle is okay it's still charging should peak like 14.3 though.

[devon527]

Yeah its charging fine now, still at 13 at idle but it hasnt done anything weird. But now I have to do my water pump, I took out two of the bolts and then went to bed and loosely put them back in... only to find a HUGE antifreeze stain on the concrete after work. Haha tryin to clean it up right now

[resuwrecked]

13 at idle is okay it's still charging should peak like 14.3 though.

Word. Proper testing puts a load on the alt and you check amperage output too.