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Electrical surges after replacing belts

2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  BISHILVR 
#1 ·
I've replaced the hydraulic belt tensioner and all 5 engine belts during my last visit to the mechanic. Before these replacements, my car was running fine, with no signs of electrical surges. But after these replacements, I started noticing some weird behavior at the dash lights, headlights and taillights. Sometimes (alleatory), the dash lights starts flickering very quickly and sometimes they almost stop flickering. At night, with the headlights turned on, I noticed that the headlights flicker and the tail lights are fliquering too; the dash backlight was weaker last night and at this moment, my power window opened up veery slowly. However, after doing some curves, the dash light came strong again and the power window speed increased to almost normal.

This alternator is a new ACDelco unit I bought last year and it has only 1 year of use. But it came with a tag "made in china" that worried me at the time because I thought this alternator was made in USA. I suspect that: 1) the alternator belt is somewhat loose or 2) The voltage regulator gone bad! :(

What are the alternatives here that I could check besides belt and the alternator itself? Because as I said, before this event, the car was just fine!
 
#2 ·
Because it was fine before those changes, I would check those first then if that is not the case, figure out what else would be next. Dont worry about other things until you have verified both the belt if correct and tight, and then you can check the alternator.
 
#3 ·
Honestly, the two things you listed are the 2 things it's most likely to be. If it's not the belt (which it could be if it's a new one and it stretched a little bit) then it probably is the alternator. Take it off and have it tested at Advanced or Autozone for free. If it's bad replace it with the 90 amp from a Galant (I forget the exact year but I could get it for you). The DSM alt is a 75 amp.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Hi Tech,

Unfortunately I live in Brazil so I cannot take it to Autozone or Advanced. However, I'll check the belt tension and have the alternator tested tomorrow because I highly suspect that the enormous amount of heat my engine is producing for quite some time now may have fried this alternator's voltage regulator as well. Since it can be the alternator please, let me know the exact Galant 90amp model and which adaptation it may require to fit into my 1G bay. I've read several posts around the internet saying that this Galant alternator is better and more reliable than the stock 75amp DSM models so, I think it's going to be a nice upgrade. Also, do you think that the stock wires are going to hold the extra amperage nicely, or do I have to replace some of them with newer and stronger wires?

Thanks!
 
#5 · (Edited)
Allright, the crappy chinese alternator voltage regulator went down for good! WARNING: New AC Delco units are made in China and/or use parts made in China (mine had a sticker outside of the unit)! This one had only 1 year and a month of dayly usage. Too bad for me that I cannot use the 2 year warranty that comes with this crap because it would cost me a fortune to send it back to USA to have it replaced.

Fortunately, I had one working remanufactured Mitsubishi unit at home that I took to the local shop to clean up and have all the internals checked, and I'll put this one back in the car tomorrow morning, so I won't have to sit down and wait 40 days to get a new unit from US.

The battery is ok. It seems that having a spare alternator is always a good practice when you have a DSM! LOL :D
 
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