Car Alternator

Trust|Nobody said:
Thanks!
I'm going to remove my alternator, take it to Midas and compare it to the Arrow brand. If they are of comparable quality I may buy the Arrow one. And I'll keep the old Bosch just incase something goes wrong, I can always recondition it and use it again.

What do you all think?
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I would also recondition the old one but if you can't you can just buy the Arrow and do it later. I know electrical parts are different but I haver an Arrow thermostat on my car and I have two GM original parts at home, sometimes this brand thing is overrated.
 
Trust|Nobody said:
I forgot to mention this piece of background information:

This all started over the Easter weekend last week.
We had electricity cables stolen in our area and there was no power for 48 hours.

That drove me nuts.
I was so desperate to charge my phone that I connected it to the cigarette lighter in the car. I never did this before, although I had the phone connection cable.

It took about 30 minutes to get to 10% charge while driving.
I stopped after 10%.
Immediately after this the discharge warning light came on.
This was Monday. I've been having problems with the alternator ever since.

Could my cellphone have caused some other error elsewhere in the car?
I checked all the fuses and none is blown.
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I strongly suspect it's just a coincidence, a phone should never do any damage since it is connected through a charger, the worst that could happen is a blown fuse.
 
thechamp said:
I strongly suspect it's just a coincidence, a phone should never do any damage since it is connected through a charger, the worst that could happen is a blown fuse.
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Though it's pretty weird it acts up after the phone charging.
Sometimes I wonder if it would have happened if I didn't charge my phone.
I really don't think so.
 
Trust|Nobody said:
Though it's pretty weird it acts up after the phone charging.
Sometimes I wonder if it would have happened if I didn't charge my phone.
I really don't think so.
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highly doubt that was the cause of anything. even without having the car running you could charge your phone quite a few times before actually harming anything.
with the car running there should be zero issues, even dead shorting should just pop the fuse with no problems.
 
Trust|Nobody said:
Though it's pretty weird it acts up after the phone charging.
Sometimes I wonder if it would have happened if I didn't charge my phone.
I really don't think so.
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Weird it might be but such things happen, I am glad it was you who charged the phone otherwise you would be even more suspicious if it was someone, else Trust Nobody ;), but if you look at it you would see just how straightforward it is, your cell pulls at most 2amp from your charger, it just lowers the 12v into a 5v and that's it, if something were to go wrong your charger has a built in fuse and your cigarette lighter has a fuse too, those will first have to blow before you can think of any damage to the car charging system.

I once drove a car the whole day, came back and park it in the yard, in the evening I decided to move the car into a garage, I started the car, it started, idled with that high pitched noise indicating a slipping belt, there was a pop and lots of smoke coming from the bonnet, while the car was parked the alternator bearing seized solid, after driving the car with no issues the whole day.
 
thechamp said:
Weird it might be but such things happen, I am glad it was you who charged the phone otherwise you would be even more suspicious if it was someone, else Trust Nobody ;), but if you look at it you would see just how straightforward it is, your cell pulls at most 2amp from your charger, it just lowers the 12v into a 5v and that's it, if something were to go wrong your charger has a built in fuse and your cigarette lighter has a fuse too, those will first have to blow before you can think of any damage to the car charging system.

I once drove a car the whole day, came back and park it in the yard, in the evening I decided to move the car into a garage, I started the car, it started, idled with that high pitched noise indicating a slipping belt, there was a pop and lots of smoke coming from the bonnet, while the car was parked the alternator bearing seized solid, after driving the car with no issues the whole day.
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Incredible.
 
Ok so I just got off the phone with a Bosch service centre.
To remove, repair and reinstall the alternator will cost between R2500 and R2800. It will take two days since they have to order parts.

This is a little costly.
 
Trust|Nobody said:
Ok so I just got off the phone with a Bosch service centre.
To remove, repair and reinstall the alternator will cost between R2500 and R2800. It will take two days since they have to order parts.

This is a little costly.
Click to expand...

Because it's Bosch...

Take it out, take it to an Auto electrician, collect it when done and refit it.

That's what you'll be doing with the Arrow isn't it?

Either way, we have told you to recondition the Bosch, you want to put an Arrow. Then do it. I think you have your answers :p
 
Thank you for all the help.

I need a good toolset for my car, something that will have everything I would need to work under the hood.

Can some provide links to such?
I have a tazz 1.3 engine equivalent.
 
Pitbull said:
Novice sure, if he knows what he's doing. It's definitely not a DIY job by any means.
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It's a easy DIY job to replace the bearing and regulator. Will be less than R500. The only thing is you shouldn't hit the shaft with a hammer to try and get the bearing off. An hours work.
 
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