Ok, two days after having the car and somethin messes up. Im goin up a hill, and im noticing on my volt gauge that its losing charge and its not charing (possiblity my alternator). Car starts to jump and jerk (everythin went off, cd player, headlights, turbo timer), and im giving it gas because im on a hill. So i make it to the top and pull over. I got out and left my car running i was afraid it wouldn't start again. So i called one of my friends to come get me. While waiting on him, i looked at my gauge again (car is still running). And its back up to 11 v.. so my friend shows up and forgot his jumper cables. so I tried driving the car about a mile down the road, and as soon as i turned my headlights bacck on. Volts dropped to 10v. By the time i got a mile down the road to the gas station. It died.


Long story short..... Got the cables, charged it. Got about 3 miles down the road. Died(while driving). Luckly my friend has a jeep. Towed me the rest of the way home 8 more miles.

Alternator? or What?

And is there any tuts on how to change one, maybe with some pics!!! i NeeD to Do This ASAP!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!


Edit: Lol, forgot to ues the search. but i've found other posts with people with the same thing happening!! Read em all. Im jus gonna replace it. But i would still like to hear what you guys think?

you should have 14 volts.

I haven't had my head on the top side on an eclipse motor in some time so I'm not sure where it is located.

no, i was only gettin like 12 or 13 two days ago. I don't believe it even hit 14. it goes from 13 to 11 after driving. but tonight it dropped from 10 straight to 8 and shut everything off while i was driving and it was raining!!! it sucked!!

I know where its located but it looks like a pain to take off and put a new one on.

Yeah you should have 14 volts.

I know on the 3000GT I had to pull the radiator out of the way. It's not to hard just a little time consuming the first time.

Haha i can help you on this one. I have changed two alternators in the past month. Its an easy job and you don't actually have to remove anything else. One of the most important things tho is to figure why do you need to replace it? did something leak on it? if so check ur power steering pump (right above alt) and see if its leaking on it.

Anyhow I can't post up pics now (im @ school) but ill try. There should be two sets of bolts that control the tension on the pulley and the position of the alternator. First loosent these all the way, then removed the belt (keep it on the crank pulley). Then look for the mounting bolts (if you will) and remove the electrical aspects (please disconnect bat first). Then simply removed and swap alts. getting the belt back on is fun just a little fyi.

Ill post more when i get home :P

ok thanks alot. I checked my terminals this morning and my neg. terminal was loose. i tighted it. jumped it off. and still won't hold charge. Im gonna get my batt check first, maybe its bad. If that not it then ill check my alt. Also my belt is squeaking REALLY BAD all of a sudden!! ?? WTF? any ideas

I unfortunately have a decent amount of experience here. If its cold and the engine is warming up it will squeak a little, but if its contiunually squeaking then your belt is either too tight, too loose, going bad, or if its a metalic grinding or other sound it could be the bearing in your alternator, in which case you must replace the alternator. Go ahead and get a new battery and clean off the cables to make sure there is no erosion which wil block the flow.

Ill give you a more step by step later today, but i would change the alternator anyhow. For 100 bucks and about an hour or two's worth of work its worth it even if its not completely dead.

P.S. The belt should be tight but not too tight. The general rule of thumb is if you push down on the belt with your fingers then the belt should give about half an inch. Adjust accordingly.

My belt squeaks continuously. It doesn't stop, and if i rev the engine, it only sounds worse!

Belt is the wrong tension.

we fixed the tension on the belt, and was sstill squeakin. I got took it to advance auto. and they said it was my bearing in my alt.

Ok, not to sound dumb here (moot point, as soon as one says it...), but you gst's have voltmeters? I have a 97 gs that doesn't have one, is this only a gst/gsx thing for 2G or something? For times like this when the alternator and/or battery may be bad I'd like to have one. Are they hard to aftermarket-install? Is it worth it, really, or am I just deluding myself that it'll be helpful?

Might be worth having a voltmeter, id like to have one so i can always see wahts happening, and in this situation its really handy. His is prob aftermarket, I dont think it was stock in the 1/2/3gs prob not in 4gs either

Any idea on cost of guage/wiring/everything else and what a shop might charge to install it? Or how many beers to offer a friend to do it?

I have an HKS turbo timer, so it already has a volt meter in it!! So check this out. Now that my alternator is replaced. The battery STILL will Not hold charge. It will hold a charge for about 30 min. then it starts to drop? WTF??

Get a new bat, clean off the terminals and whatknot for corrosion so that you can actually send some current through it.

New battery, and new power wires.