is anyone else going through alternators with underdrive pullys? i'm on my third in 8 months. i do drive the car everyday but i dont have a stereo or anything extra. could the pully be making the alternator work too hard?

 

I've had underdrive pulleys for the past 3 years since my rebuild and I do have an amp installed. I've only put about 5,000 miles on in that time but have had no problems.

 

I've been running a full unorthodox pulley set for 5 years without any problems.

 

Under drive pulleys would actually turn all you accessories slower, if anything, your alternator is doing less than before, not more.

 

Hmmm running underdrive pulleys for 5 years without a problem.

 

Alternators are strange, though -- running it at a lower RPM might increase the load since the field would need to be stronger.

That said, I'm still on my original alternator and have been running underdrive pulleys for years.

-Max

 

What winds up being wrong with the alternators? Bearings? Could you be consistently over-tightening the belt? Bushings? If you're buying rebuilt units some of the aftermarket bushings are really crappy.. Charging capabilities/Regulator? A bad battery or bad ground can really make the alternator work overtime..

 

Yep, I agree with NewbernD, overtightning the belt will cause the alt. to break, and also it will cause you water pump to break and leak which can result in overheating your motor.

 

This may sound stupid, but I always change my battery and alternator togeter just to be safe.

 

well i guess i have to look elsewhere

 

ok, so i replaces the alternator and it's still doing the same thing, this sucks because i know electrical crap sucks to trouble shoot. any advice on where to start

 

How about starting by telling us what's happening?

 

oh, sorry i did but it was somewhere else that i posted it, the volts on the FC commander are spiking up to 15.9v but only when its in gear, if im in neutral and i rev it up it wont do it. it seems to go with the car when it jerks, like when i take off in first or am shifting gears and also sometimes when i'm on and off the gas, so pretty much whenever the car has a jerky movement. sometimes my radio cuts out, i think from the spike and all my light get really bright off and on with the spiking. hope this helps

 

Could be a ground problem. Check to make sure you reinstalled any grounding cables you may have taken off when you removed the alternator. Beyond that, I would suspect the battery. An intermittant connection -inside- the battery will do what you are describing. The battery post can come loose inside where it's staked through the buss bars that hold the plates.
When this is a problem, the battery appears good when tested. Try applying some rotation force on each post (with the cables connected). It's usually loose enough you can move it a bit by hand, and if it's still good you are unlikely to damage it if applying the force by hand. If you turn on the car radio and have it blaring, this battery problem will show up when you do this.

 

internal voltage regulator.

if you take out your batter it'll go much higher and fry **** (I blasted an injector).