I have an 88 RX-7 NA and I am wondering why my alternator is so hot. I cant keep my hand on it for more than like 1/2 sec. Should I be worried? Please, I dont know where I should go to find info about this.

 

Under hood temps get pretty hot. Make sure the alt belt is not slipping which would cause excessive heat.

 

It should be ok, remember your fan is pulling blowing all the hot air from your rad over the alt. BUT the hotter it gets the lower the vlotage it will put out from my dealings with alt. I had a power master 250 amp alt that would put out 16v when it was cold, but the hotter it got the less the voltage. Also the alt life is affected by heat, the hotter it gets the less it will last. ALL alt. get hot, it is a drawback from generating the juice to power the car.

 

i know with my s4 alt.. it started getting REAL HOT, then after like 2 weeks.. it stopped working. I thought it was my battery.. changed that and my car still would die and not start. Then i changed alts, and presto it worked all fine and dandy. Get your alt checked out. it may be dying...

 

like any component under the hood, you're not going to be able to touch it for very long when the engine is hot.