will a ford aspire alternator fit a festiva?

[stingy goose]

Hey guys, just joined the forum last week or something and got my car last week for 450 bucks, only 190,000kms on it. When driving home from the lake, I first had to push start it because the engine wouldn't turn over because the battery had so little power (it still ticked when I turned the key). Once I got it going the engine started to choke out but when I cut the lights it was fine. The check engine light would light up periodically as well.
Basically had to drive an hour and a half on the highway with no lights. BUT the thing was about an hour earlier I arrived at the lake and had been driving with the lights ON. I charged the battery a day before because I had just got the car. What I was thinking is that the alternator is pretty much dead and I was running on just the charge from the day before, so once I shut her down the battery called her quits

My first question is, is this the alternator failing on me? I figured since running anything electronic seriously cut back on throttle power it may be.
I know it isn't the battery, because I charged it up and it started fine.

Second question is: if it is the alternator, will one out of an aspire fit? I've been to the junkyards and they don't have any fstivas (that's good right?) but plenty of aspires.

Thank you very much for the help. I'm trying to save the poor things life!

Picture of my festiva. It's an '89. It has since been shammied and cleaned up haha

[Nerd Racing]

An aspire alternator will work if you swap the pulley with the one on your alternator.

[kellen302]

Is your 89 an LX? I see alloys and LX seats I believe.

[stingy goose]

Is your 89 an LX? I see alloys and LX seats I believe.

nope it's just an L but it has alloy rims, I don't really know much about the seats though haha

An aspire alternator will work if you swap the pulley with the one on your alternator.

Thank you. I have the haynes manual and it said for "ford festiva and aspire '88 thru '97" so I had a feeling it might.

[kellen302]

As a general rule of thumb, if its off an aspire it will probably work, just grab the assorted fittings to go with the part in question

[Damkid]

The way to test your alternator is get a volt meter, fire up your festiva and see what the voltage is at the battery, anything under 12 volts means your alternator is not charging and needs to be replaced

If it reads 13-14 volts when running then your alternator is fine and your battery is not holding the charge

by your description i think you are right that the alternator is the problem but thats a way to check before you take the time to change it

And welcome to the site

[kartracer46]

An Aspire will not work on your 89, It has the early alt with the old style plugs. If it's an auto it will have one single plug plus the hot lead. If it is a manual it will have 2 plugs plus the hot lead and the red wire is for the choke.

The Aspire will only direct fit a 90-93 EFI car without a bunch of wiring changes.

Even then on a 90-92 you will need to change the pulley, but you can change all the pulleys on a 93 to convert it to a rib belt like the Aspire. The reason is the bottom pulley on the 93 is a big nose crank like the Aspires have.

[stingy goose]

An Aspire will not work on your 89, It has the early alt with the old style plugs. If it's an auto it will have one single plug plus the hot lead. If it is a manual it will have 2 plugs plus the hot lead and the red wire is for the choke.

The Aspire will only direct fit a 90-93 EFI car without a bunch of wiring changes.

Even then on a 90-92 you will need to change the pulley, but you can change all the pulleys on a 93 to convert it to a rib belt like the Aspire. The reason is the bottom pulley on the 93 is a big nose crank like the Aspires have.

If this man speaks the truth, does that mean I have to get the alt of an 89 festiva? or any festiva. Mine is a manual 4-speed transmission by the way.

[DrMaxwellEdison]

Kartracer is right, while you COULD make it work, it's more trouble than it's worth.... your best bet is to find one for an 88-89 Festiva.... these will have the early plug setup you need for your car...

[Biff]

A Miata alternator will bolt on. B6 DOHC 1991

[getnpsi]

Cool there you go. And id trust a oem alternator off a car just as just as a remanufactured one even with a warranty. I hate taking things back.

[stingy goose]

A Miata alternator will bolt on. B6 DOHC 1991

It has to be that year? And I assume I have to change the pulley as well

[john1290]

you can get cheap ones at auto zone for like 50 bucks for festivas and u can check your alt by using voltmeter and seeing what it reads.. should read around 14.5 when the alt kicks on if not change it.. with a festy lol its okay to use the good old fashioned screwdriver test to see if its magnetic still but u need to see if its pushing 14.5 if you dont have voltmeter autozone can do test for free

[stingy goose]

Alright guys I phoned around my city and there isn't a single 88 or 89 festiva in a scrapyard and the part new is 200 bucks.

Is there any other alternator I can use? Can someone confirm what Biff said about the miata alternator? My temp insurance runs out tomorrow so I really need to hurry

[hotrodin4me]

Rockauto .com has one listed for $ 81.00 and they will ship to Canada