mory

dudes im hearing a tick sound coming from the altenator. Its not loud but its there. the altenator is rebuilt (about 4months old). whats going on inside the altenator for this to happen? its not coming from the pully its from the altenator. the voltage is above 13 and all syatems are good, its just that damn sound. thank to all replies.

85f-bird

does the ticking sound vary w/ rpm? if so, you might have something inside the alt. making contact w/ a stationary part....maybe brushes are getting whacked on one part of the alt. or somethign......it's a start.

mory

seems like when its at regular idle in park or at a light it doese it. should i open it up and what tool would i use to open it?

Dale

iTrader: (12)

If its less then 4 months old on rebuild, it should be under warranty. Take it back.

mory

well you are absolutly right. Heres the propblem. In los angeles, their are hundreds of places you can go to get rebuilds and most of them charge very low prices to do the build without a warranty and thats where i went. The altenator in my car is the original one. they just rebuilt it for $35 with no warranty. i imagine its easy to open the thing, but what tools do i need to open it?

camaro_junkie

Alternator rebuilds are a scam. I say, phone them up, see if they will fix it for free. If not, take it apart. If it's toast, buy a new one, not a rebuild. Your car should be dead before the new alternator goes.

mory

thanks guys.

TomP

First with the car running, put a voltmeter on the battery, should read 13.8 volts.

If you do take apart the alternator, you just need a nutdriver, but to put it back together, you'll need to insert a bent paper clip end into the back of the case to keep the brushes in place. They're spring loaded... when you pull the back cover off the alternator, the shaft stays on the front cover (sandwiched b/c of the pulley). So when the shaft stays with the front cover, and you pull the back cover off, the brushes spring towards the middle- no more shaft to keep them apart.

So you take a paper clip, there's holes in the back of the case by where the shaft would go- and you force the brushes back in with your fingers, and stick the paper clip in to "hold them". Then both halves of the case go back together, and when everything's bolted up, you pull out the tip of the paper clip to release the brushes.

It's all in the GM service manual... I doubt it's in the Haynes (I never went to the Haynes for alternator info).