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alternator failure
Last night when driving my beloved 92 Camry with
124 k miles, the battery discharge indicator light
came on. After a few miles, the lights dimmed and
the radio killed. It woudl restart after several
minutes, but the discharge light stayed on, and it
eventually died again.
I had it towed to my mechanic, who tells me the
alternator is bad (I have no problem believing this
due to the 124 k on it). *But* just 2 days ago I
had the timing belt changed (for the second time,
the first being at 60k miles). I'm wondering, is
it possible that they did something wrong on the
timing belt job that affected the alternator, or is
it just a coincidence the alternator went out at
this time?
124 k miles, the battery discharge indicator light
came on. After a few miles, the lights dimmed and
the radio killed. It woudl restart after several
minutes, but the discharge light stayed on, and it
eventually died again.
I had it towed to my mechanic, who tells me the
alternator is bad (I have no problem believing this
due to the 124 k on it). *But* just 2 days ago I
had the timing belt changed (for the second time,
the first being at 60k miles). I'm wondering, is
it possible that they did something wrong on the
timing belt job that affected the alternator, or is
it just a coincidence the alternator went out at
this time?
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
improved their alternators? I owned a 85 T-bird Turbo and went thru 6 alternators in 9 years.
Have a 92 Bonneville, on my 3rd on it. Had a 88 Suzuki samurai and sold it about 5 months ago with the original alternator! Hope my new Silverado has
a reliable 1?
I had an '84 MITSUBISHI TREDIA a while back-it was a faily decnt car 9although the body rusted through very early). Anyway, the alternator failed at around 85K miles. I had an independent shop replace it-they gave me a rebuilt one which failed in short order (bad bearings). I knew that Chrysler marketed the same car under the Dodge COLT name, so I called a Doge dealer-bottom line-new COLT alternator =$95.00 vs MITSUBISHI @ $255.00! I bought the Colt alternator-but foung the case ahad a small boss on it that interfered with the attachment bracket. What to do? I filed the boss off (took around 30 min.)!It worked fine till I scrapped the car!
Part of the reason I hate Japanese cars-they GOUGE you on replacement parts!
Are these rebuilt kits available for todays average American built car? Or even Japanese cars?
I can't even estimate how long it's been since I heard my engine ping. 20 years? 25 years? Maybe more. I guess this is perceived as a major problem for some, but I have always used 87 octane and have never needed any higher in the cars & pickups I've owned.
But you who have posted above have cleared up one puzzle for me. I've never taken anyone seriously who claimed that higher octane provided better mpg figures. But knock sensors and consequent fine tuning of igition timing on the fly provides an explanation, so thanks for providing it.