Ailing alternator

[Brett Dikeman]

At 5:00 PM -0500 3/5/02, Kneale Brownson wrote:

>So, Bentley says I can check brush material, etc., with the alternator in
>place.  But it fails to illustrate how the plastic cover on the back is
>held in place.  I took out the three screws I could see, and can barely pry
>up the bottom of the plastic cap.  Is there a fourth screw I can't reach
>without dropping the alternator out?  Do I have to take off the bumper and
>half the front of the car to get the vent tube off?

Nope; remove the michellin man hose and you can get to the top screw,
piece of cake.  The vent tube will, with a lot of twisting, come off
the cover; its nearly impossible to get the whole thing out together.


>Also, I have no famous little blue wire.  I have a really large wire that's
>blue inside but has a black skin outside of that (the black skin is cracked
>at the rigid fitting that disappears inside the cover I can't remove, so I
>can see the bright blue inside)

Yeah, that's the main cable.  Its supposed to be red, but turns kinda
purple-ish with age.

>.  And I have a smaller (looks like 10- or
>12-gauge wire) that also disappears behind the cover I can't remove.  Would
>the latter be a replacement for the little blue wire?

The small wire is the field wire, yes.  It's probably just dirty;
mine was covered in gunk and after cleanup in that area the wire
turned what was clearly blue.

B
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