Alternator install time

Secondly, you may be wondering what causes an alternator to go bad? Alternators can fail for different reasons.

Several factors can affect how long an alternator lasts, including the quality of the part, conditions in which the car is driven and how many electronics are being used inside the car.

How do you know if the alternator is the problem? When the alternator goes bad, the electronics try to draw all of their power off the battery, which can cause the battery to die as well. But, if the alternator is replaced right away, the charge can be restored to the battery.

So, if the dash battery light comes on and the headlights are dimming, get a charging system test to make sure whether the problem is the alternator or the battery.

So how long does it take to replace an alternator? This is a common question with an easy answer. The make and model of your vehicle will determine the exact time it takes to replace the alternator, but usually, one to two hours is sufficient. Other factors that can affect the time needed to replace the alternator include the accessibility of the alternator fora particular vehicle and back ordered or special order parts. Wondering how long does it take to replace an alternator?

Contact our ASE Certified Technicians at Cannon Auto Repair today for more information about alternators, starters, and batteries, and to schedule an appointment. Our auto shop serves vehicle owners in Cannon Falls, MN , and the surrounding areas. The wiring harness is one of those clip attachments so you either need to use a flat head screwdriver to release it or if you have a bit of a fingernail you can get in there you can unplug it with that.

Put the wire aside for later. Step 4: To release the alternator you're going to need to move the serpentine belt which is arguably the hardest part of this repair job. That means you have to relieve the tension on the serpentine belt with the auto tensioner if it has one. Unfortunately, not every alternator is set up the same way and not every vehicle has a tensioner pulley. Some have a spring-loaded tensioner that you can pull back with a wrench but on others they will be rod-end type tensioner or screw type tensioner that require you to turn a bolt with a wrench or socket until the tension is released enough to remove the belt.

This really depends on the kind of vehicle you have, so if you're not sure how to get that belt off, you may need to look up your specific make and model of vehicle.

Once you know how to release it however, you can slip the serpentine belt off to free up the alternator. Step 5: With the serpentine belt free you just need to remove the bolts that are connecting the alternator to the bracket. You may as well take this opportunity to inspect the serpentine belt if you have it off.

Look for any wear on the belt, cracks or breaks in the rubber, or shiny spots that look like it is worn thin. If it needs to be replaced, now is the best time to do it. Step 6: You should be able to completely remove the alternator at this point. It might take a little finesse to get it, but just take it slow and steady if you need to. This is a good opportunity to double-check that your replacement alternator is exactly the same as the one you just took out. All the mounting holes and connectors are in the exact same place so that when you put it back in, there won't be any difficulty getting it to fit.

You never know if the one you bought, especially if you ordered it online or something, is going to be the exact one you need. Mistakes get made from time to time.

Step 7 : Install your new alternator where the old one was making sure that you're holding your loose wires and serpentine belt out of the way until it's in place. Step 8: Insert the mounting bolts and tighten them by hand until they are snug. Step 9: You can install the serpentine belt now, whether it's the old one or the new one, and that may require you to check out the diagram that is located inside the engine bay of your car.

It's actually a bit of a puzzle getting a serpentine belt looped in the correct position so if you don't have a diagram inside the engine bay, check your owner's manual or, if need be, Google it. Step Now you can securely tighten the bolts and make sure the belt has the proper tension, it should have less than an inch of play if it's on correctly.

Step You can now reconnect the power cable and the wire harness the way they were before you remove them. The wiring harness should click into place when you get it in snugly. Then you will have both a battery and alternator to place, and sometimes a starter as well. This sign is common, but less common than the other signs. If, for any reason, your alternator belt is not able to freely rotate on the pulleys, it can create friction and cause the belt to heat up.

When this happens, if it gets hot enough, you'll start to smell burnt rubber. If you start to notice a grinding or whining noise coming from your alternator, that is another sign of an alternator problem.

Grinding is usually caused by a broken, dirty, or worn-out bearing. If you're hearing a whining, it's more than likely caused by the voltage regulator telling the alternator to charge more than it should be at the time. Alternatively, it could be that the battery is not sending enough electricity to the alternator, so if you're hearing a whining noise, it's wise to double check the battery just in case.

There are not many other signs that your alternator is going bad that wouldn't require more detailed diagnostic tools. And in most cases, these signs are the ones that mechanics use to determine whether they should investigate the alternator as the source of your car's current troubles.

Your vehicle's alternator has one extremely important job: Keeping your battery charged. Additionally, your alternator also pumps in a little extra electrical power, so that each electrical system runs optimally. Without your alternator, your battery would drain in a few minutes and your car would stop.

That means no starting, no running, no driving. When your alternator is working and doing its job properly, your battery stays charged, your spark plugs have plenty of spark, and all of your vehicles accessories run without issues. When your alternator isn't working correctly, everything from your windshield wipers to your starter will experience issues. Exploded view of an alternator on Henry's Site.

Over time, there are several components in the alternator that naturally wear down. In my experience, it's either the brushes magnets or the voltage regulator that break down the soonest. With the brushes, it's not very complicated. Think of the copper coil as a piece of sandpaper and the brushes as a common table spoon. If you take that table spoon and rub it against the sandpaper for several hours, the spoon is going to get weaker and weaker as tiny bits of it are shaved off with every pass over the sandpaper.

Another easy analogy is how over time, water gently wears down rocks. It takes a while, and happens so slowly that you wouldn't notice it until decades have passed, but slowly the water creates channels, cliffs, and caves in the rocks. The same thing happens to your brushes. With every rotation, the magnets get smaller and smaller until they are no longer able to make a clean connection with the coil and create an electric charge. The voltage regulator is a bit of a different beast, and I'm not fantastic with explaining electrical components.

I'll do my best though. So, in your alternator, the voltage regulator's job is to control the amount of electricity produced by the alternator. Imagine this: You're walking down the street at a comfortable pace. Your brain is like the voltage regulator. It tells your body that there is no need to breathe any faster or get your heart rate up because you're not exerting yourself. Then you start walking more briskly until you're at a gentle jog.

Your brain sends a signal to your heart to pump a little faster to bring more blood and oxygen to your lungs, which in turn causes you to breath a little faster. Then you start running. Your brain again sends a signal to your heart and lungs so that you bring in more air and get oxygen and blood to where it is needed. Now here is the important part: When you start to slow down and get back to walking, your brain sends the signal to stop putting out so much energy.

If your brain didn't do that, your heart would continue beating really fast, your breathing wouldn't slow down and you would quickly hyperventilate and pass out. Your voltage regulator does pretty much the same thing. When you turn on your radio, it puts out a little more power.

When you turn on your windshield wipers, your car needs a little bit more. The more accessories you turn on, the more electricity it needs to stay running. Nowadays, we can do a lot of things with the car. Imagine driving your car on the freeway which needs more power with your iPod playing music through your radio's Bluetooth function while your and your passenger's phones are charging, your heater is on because it's cold, your headlights are on because it's getting dark, your windshield wipers are going because it's raining, your headset TVs and DVD player are going in the back for the kids, and you just pushed in the cigarette lighter.

That's a lot of things to all be getting power at one time. Your alternator needs to know when each one of those things is plugged in and turned on, so that it can increase power.

More importantly, just like with your breathing, your alternator needs to know when to put out less power. As you reach a stop sign, turn off a tv, unplug your phone, turn off your headlights, etc, your alternator needs to put out less and less.

If the alternator continued to put out so much power, your battery would blow up and make an incredible mess, and the acid would eat up half of your engine compartment. Now, as I said, electricity is not my forte. I understand enough of how it works with mechanical devices and vehicles to know if it's working or not working and how to make it work again.

I don't understand it enough to explain what happens when each system breaks down. So let's just say that over time, your voltage regulator wears out and stops working like most things in life, and when its life is over, it cannot tell your alternator how to do its job correctly. When it stops working all together, your alternator won't even turn on anymore, and, thus, your car will not start. There are other components that can wear at as well.

Your alternator is attached to a pulley system or wheel that has a belt on it, known as an alternator belt go figure, right? If the belt loosens or breaks, your alternator won't be able to send power to your battery anymore.

It's rare, but I've also seen a pulley break or become bent. This usually only happens on extremely old cars where the alternator has been rebuilt instead of replaced and so the pulley is extremely old. There are several elements inside and outside of your alternator that use wiring, and when the wiring gets old or corroded, it can prevent the alternator from working correctly. Likewise, there are some terminals on the back that can also become corroded and possibly break over time.

However, the more common problem with terminals is that the wiring attached becomes loose over time, which is easily fixed by tightening up the bolts or replacing them if they are stripped. Some alternators have also work with fuses.

If they do, it's common for the fuse to go out if the alternator experiences a surge of electricity that might otherwise corrupt the alternator or hurt the battery. If this happens often, it's a good idea to examine your voltage regulator.

Last, but certainly not least, if you have a vehicle that is newer than a model, you might have an alternator that is controlled digitally by a "brain" computer. In this instance, the brain can sometimes be at fault for an incorrectly operating alternator. It's super easy to test your alternator with a multimeter. I'll break it down into simple steps that anyone can follow. During step two, above, if your multimeter reads less than In steps two and three, if you find that your alternator is testing in the correct range, but your battery is testing below Check the connection at each terminal and make sure the wire isn't broken anywhere that you can reach.

During steps two and three, if you find that the voltage on your alternator drops below During steps two and three while your car is running , if your alternator tests below During step two while your car is running , if your alternator tests above Having the right tools for the job makes all the difference. In this case, having a multimeter can save you money and lots of time in making sure it actually is your alternator giving you problems.

Alternator Attached. Multimeters are absolutely among the number one tools I recommend that all drivers have in their toolboxes, even if they are not mechanically minded or even all that interested in the art of automotive repair. With a multimeter, you can test your battery, alternator, starter, and more. You can also use the very same tool to test just about any electrical element in your home, RV, boat, or favorite gadgets.