Those Who Lost Alternator, Come In...

[steve5575]

My stock Alt died at 55k on a very stock car. It left me stranded 100 miles away from home in between Houston and Austin. That REALLY SUCKED. Once I got my car home on a trailer I had to run over to VatoZone in a pinch and buy a rebuilt alt. 3 months later, here I am, my new Jamie McClinton unit came in this afternoon. I will be installing this new one this weekend and return the "rental parts" to the Zone That lifetime warranty isn't worth a thing if you have to install a "new" one ever 3 months. They said they will give me a full refund.

With reading all these threads on the different forums about these Cobra issues, you guys running these high amp alts really need to upgrade your lead wire to your distribution block if you didn't already of course. I took a look at mine and where the single wire splints into two thinner gauge wires, there is a sharp 90 degree bend at the connection which I'm sure is a lot of reistance.

I sure hope this new one lasts another 5 years like the OEM one.

Oh yeah, anybody else tired of hearing these cheap ass bearings howl? Makes a nice car sound CHEAP.

 

[exdeath]

Light started flickering very rarely when getting on it good, sometimes I wouldn't even notice it. Over a few months time it started flickering at lower and lower RPM until eventually it would light up solid as soon as I went over 1500 RPM just barely cruising. Put it on a charger over night, replaced the alternator, no more problems.

And yeah, the Vatozone remans are pretty crappy and noisy as hell. I'll definately be getting a higher quality unit online in advance while the car is running. Sucks having to use cheap parts that you can get right away vs. ordering online and not having the car for a week.

 

[Bill56]

Ometimes the light comes on sometimes it doesnt, usually it well though
once you lose your radio and ABS and Airbag light come on you know you done, usually get about 1 mile after that happens

ive gone through 4 alternators in the past month, Orielys gave me a refund after 2 o theres crapped out in less than a tank of gas, i just put a nappa one in and it didnt work from the get go so im putting in another napa one tommorrow, if it dont work then im going Startncharge for sure, sould have done it in the first place

 

[LIKE IT]

Has anyone use the PA Alt as a replacement. If so, what amp did u go with?, and was there any issue after that change out/replacement. I'm now having the same problem and thinking about upgrading the ALT to a PA may be 130 t0 170 amps. Looking 4 any input thx.

 

[Stalker27]

Well let me add to this thread

Car has 80k miles and really looks like the stock alternator on there. Anyways my battery light has been comming on once for maybe 5 sec then going off & never comming back on. This happened for about 2 weeks i guess

Well as of yesterday driving home at night battery light came on & stayed on alot longer this time. Went off then came right back on. Drove it to the gym today during day time with my sct plugged in. Batt light came on & i looked at the volts. When i 1st started my way down there the volts stayed in the 14's barely going down to 13's.

After 15 min of driving the volts were staying mid 13's & dropping down to 13 at times. Which is no good. So it's parked for right now lol

Forgot to add, all of this happening while im cruizing at 70mph

 

[LIKE IT]

Well let me add to this thread

Car has 80k miles and really looks like the stock alternator on there. Anyways my battery light has been comming on once for maybe 5 sec then going off & never comming back on. This happened for about 2 weeks i guess

Well as of yesterday driving home at night battery light came on & stayed on alot longer this time. Went off then came right back on. Drove it to the gym today during day time with my sct plugged in. Batt light came on & i looked at the volts. When i 1st started my way down there the volts stayed in the 14's barely going down to 13's.

After 15 min of driving the volts were staying mid 13's & dropping down to 13 at times. Which is no good. So it's parked for right now lol

Forgot to add, all of this happening while im cruizing at 70mph

I had a local Alt shop rebuilt the stock alt to 180amps. Along with that,i replace the stock batt with a optima yellow top so far all seems to be working well, but then again my car is not daily driven. I also run a cooling duct from next to the forg light to the side of the alt to provide some cooling.

 

[Stalker27]

I had a local Alt shop rebuilt the stock alt to 180amps. Along with that,i replace the stock batt with a optima yellow top so far all seems to be working well, but then again my car is not daily driven. I also run a cooling duct from next to the forg light to the side of the alt to provide some cooling.

I have local shop literally right around the corner. I'm gonna go talk & see how much it might be to rebuild it. They do good work. My dad has been there many times before but not to fix the same one he bought lol

Then i'll prob put the battery on a slow charge for a little while. I really don't want to fork out for a new battery too

 

[Quicktime_GT]

Battery light came on at track in-between runs, I thought it may have been from running the intercooler pump with the car off.

On the next run , it felt like it cut out, I guess either there was a low voltage ignition problem or a low voltage fuel pump problem .


Barely made it home

 

[ram360]

When mine went the light was going on and off but it worked.

 

[LIKE IT]

I have local shop literally right around the corner. I'm gonna go talk & see how much it might be to rebuild it. They do good work. My dad has been there many times before but not to fix the same one he bought lol

Then i'll prob put the battery on a slow charge for a little while. I really don't want to fork out for a new battery too

u would then have to run a new alt wire(3ft long) 4 gauge wire, with an inline fuse of 200 amps. you can purchaes this on e/bay and make the lead up, or (pa alternatior) has a wire/lead already made up with the fuse and terminal ends. good luck.

 

[FLYIN]

PA 130 Alternator died last night on me. Very little warning. Once I started getting indications it was too late had less than a minute until the car quit running. Nothing like sitting at an intersection waiting on a flat bed. I got the ABS light, then the Airbag light, then the tach, speedo, fuel gauge went to zero. Error message on my wide band. Then the car starts to hiccup and finally died as I was in the left turn lane trying to get a u turn to get my car back to the storage unit. People were nice enough to drive by talking shit though. "You should have bought a Chevy were the common remarks". Nice, I am not expecting anyone to help, but at least keep the stupid comments to yourself as you drive by. One guy decided to show me how bad he was by burning out as he went by. I was very impressed. BTW I own 2 Chevys.

 

[FLYIN]

Is it still possible to get a Start N Charge Battery from Jamie?

 

[timbo3282]

My stock Alt died at 55k on a very stock car. It left me stranded 100 miles away from home in between Houston and Austin. That REALLY SUCKED. Once I got my car home on a trailer I had to run over to VatoZone in a pinch and buy a rebuilt alt. 3 months later, here I am, my new Jamie McClinton unit came in this afternoon. I will be installing this new one this weekend and return the "rental parts" to the Zone That lifetime warranty isn't worth a thing if you have to install a "new" one ever 3 months. They said they will give me a full refund.

With reading all these threads on the different forums about these Cobra issues, you guys running these high amp alts really need to upgrade your lead wire to your distribution block if you didn't already of course. I took a look at mine and where the single wire splints into two thinner gauge wires, there is a sharp 90 degree bend at the connection which I'm sure is a lot of reistance.

I sure hope this new one lasts another 5 years like the OEM one.

Oh yeah, anybody else tired of hearing these cheap ass bearings howl? Makes a nice car sound CHEAP.

How did you get in contact with Jamie McClinton? I went on Start-N-Charge.com and it looked like they were just selling rebuild kits and they didn't list anything for cars newer than 2001. I'm guessing I'm in the wrong place.

Thanks! :beer:

 

[JB]

How did you get in contact with Jamie McClinton? I went on Start-N-Charge.com and it looked like they were just selling rebuild kits and they didn't list anything for cars newer than 2001. I'm guessing I'm in the wrong place.

Thanks! :beer:

Not my site,i dont have one.I would rather talk to people and build one for the application rather than have you just blindly buy one from a brief description or pretty picture.
509-447-0289 Pacific time.

:read: START 'N CHARGE

Call Jamie and get one of his 160A units.......You won't be sorry!

 

[Huachipato]

I have my radar detector (Escort X50) plugged into the fuse box. The radar detector has a voltmeter view setting, which is what I keep it on all the time.

When the alternator went out, I was driving from OK to TX, coming back with my wife from an Anniversary trip. About 2 hours before the car died, I notice the voltage oddly dropped below 12.7V (which was the lowest I normally saw it drop to). For the next couple of hours, while driving 50 - 70 MPH in the rain on the freeway, it steadily kept on dropping. I thought it very odd when it dropped below 12V, and the car was still running. While in Denton, the radar detector finally set off it's own "Low Voltage" warnings at 11.4V. I started working my way to the right, looking for an exit off I35. ABS light came on, wipers started to go on and off on their own, and car started to lose power. I managed to get the car off the highway and parked it at an Ice Cream shop. I managed to get a ride to Sears off of one of the patrons there, and purchased a new battery that allowed me to make the last 20 miles home.

New alternator and battery went in - I believe the Battery took me a good 120 miles before the car actually died. I keep a good eye on the voltage, and I think it is normal for the voltage to drop into the 13Vs. Everytime I start the car, it starts out in the low 14s, and moves it way into the high/mid 13s by the time I make it to work or home (12 mile trip), and I'm fine with that. The volts I'm reading may be lower based on the fuse I picked to run the radar detector from, but having experienced what to look for, I'd say I will have plenty of warning before the next one dies.

 

[FLYIN]

Start N Charge 160 Amp ordered. And I plan on replacing the Optima Red Top, with a Optima Yellow top. 3.2 Alternator pulley will go on as well. Running a stock crank pulley with a 3.20 upper on a Whipple 3.4. Hopefully this is the end of my electrical demons.

 

[LIKE IT]

Start N Charge 160 Amp ordered. And I plan on replacing the Optima Red Top, with a Optima Yellow top. 3.2 Alternator pulley will go on as well. Running a stock crank pulley with a 3.20 upper on a Whipple 3.4. Hopefully this is the end of my electrical demons.

Run an air duct from next to your fog lite to the alt to help with cooling since it dont get much of it. I rebuilt mine to 180amp with new y\top and air duct cooling.