Remy, Bosch or Denso Alternator

[zedjr10]

I ordered a reman denso alternator from carid and i swear it isn't reman by denso. Came from their warehouse in arizona in an open box and not even cleaned that well. It doesnt hold volts above 12 at idle alot of times. It is jsut draining my dam battery. AM i wrong or something. Aren't quality alternators suppose to hold above 13 volts. Am thinking of just ordering a new remy, reman remy or a bosch. Anyone got a remy or boasch alternator? If so , how is it? Does it hold volts well at idle?

[Fleetw00d]

Not sure what brand I have, but I'm pretty sure they run 14+ at idle. Are you checking at the battery or at the alternator. Make sure all your power cables and battery grounds are in good condition; I bought a CB7 with a battery charging problem - it barely got 12 at the battery but showed 14+ at the alternator. The negative battery cable connection to the transmission housing was bad; threads were stripped. Recently my 92 EX coupe had a badly frayed negative battery cable at the bottom end that was causing slow starts.

[zedjr10]

Not sure what brand I have, but I'm pretty sure they run 14+ at idle. Are you checking at the battery or at the alternator. Make sure all your power cables and battery grounds are in good condition; I bought one with a battery charging problem - it barely got 12 at the battery but showed 14+ at the alternator. The negative battery cable connection to the transmission housing was bad; threads were stripped. Recently my 92 EX coupe had a badly frayed negative battery cable at the bottom end that was causing slow starts.

I guess i will need to check at alternator to make sure. I will first check the connection at tranny. I checked the negative cable to tranny and it looks good. Old but all one piece. The other cables look ok also. I can't imagine it is one of the other small grounds. Grrrr. This is so annoying.So pissed at CARID sending me this fake crap or at least what i believe today is fake crap.

My Honda shop manual has a complex alternator test procedure i don't quite understand. Is there a simpler process for testing these alternators?

[Fleetw00d]

Check the positive cables and connections as well.

[zedjr10]

Check the positive cables and connections as well.

Should i check the posi going to the passengers side fuse box and maybe just take all those apart and clean them. I guess i should also check the negative coming from alternator itself also.

[Fleetw00d]

Can't hurt to check them all - easier than changing the alternator again. My last project car also had starting problems early on because the starter was loose on the transmission!

[zedjr10]

i only drove a couple miles and my battery light cuts on sometimes. Annoying. This is with all accesories on though so i will be ok till i figure this shit out. I was thinking it was a ground but this alt seems to perform worse than the one i took out. Am gong to clean my contacts in the passengers side fuse box also.

SO any opinion on alternators.Reman Bosch, Reman Remy, New Remy or Reman Denso. AM goign to return this supposed reman denso and get something else. FUCK CARID. Anyone

[Fleetw00d]

Sorry, can't offer an opinion on brand; I haven't bought a new one in a long time. The one that failed in my wagon I replaced with the OEM one from the car my daughter wrecked in October last year.

[zedjr10]

Sorry, can't offer an opinion on brand; I haven't bought a new one in a long time. The one that failed in my wagon I replaced with the OEM one from the car my daughter wrecked in October last year.

Ok so i cleaned both battery terminals and both grounds on passenger side of car near battery. Also both leads going into the passengers fuse-box and the 80 amp fuse connections. The ground wire going to tranny is intact but greasy. The wires are sort of spread apart and not tightly woven. But all intact.I cleaned all this using electronic cleaner and steel wool. I used wire brushes and rifle wire brushes on all other leads.

All this and still same thing but different with this new alternator. The voltage will sometimes drop when something needs juice and not go up for maybe 10 seconds but other times be fine. At idle it can be fine at 13.7 sometimes with everything on. Old alternator would always drop and stay there. New one only sometimes and usually but not always come back up to proper voltage in a few seconds. In my mind all this points to voltage regulator in alternator. IMO if it was bad wires and lead connections it would not be acting this way. Who knows as i am no electric expert and this is a wild guess.

Also i noticed a plastic plug in passengers fuse box with 3 or 4 really small wires. Like 22 gauge or something. It looks like a short that burnt the edge of plug but have no ideal what these wires goes to. It is on the edge of passengers fuse box closest to the front of car.

I am thinking this reman Denso has crap voltage regulator in it. I guess i need to test the alternator next. Will have to look that shit up as shop manual is confusing.

Also what is the big 3. I have seen it mentioned on here a lot but not in detail. I assume one is replacing negative and positive battery cables. What is other(s)?

All these readings are coming from my interior voltmeter gauge . I haven't tested alternator yet. Will tomorrow or Sunday. Need to look that itzap up.

[Fleetw00d]

Get a digital voltmeter/multimeter to check voltage directly at the battery and alternator (and anywhere else).

[zedjr10]

What is the big three. Change Battery Cables and what else? What is a good brand cable?

[sonikaccord]

Big three is:
Engine block to chassis ground
Battery to chassis ground
Alternator to battery positive

Also, any good copper 4 awg cable will work. Do not use CCA (copper clad aluminium) wire!

[zedjr10]

Big three is:
Engine block to chassis ground
Battery to chassis ground
Alternator to battery positive

Also, any good copper 4 awg cable will work. Do not use CCA (copper clad aluminium) wire!

IS the oem cable 4 awg. Where approximately is the engine to chassis ground cable?

[Fleetw00d]

Big three is:
Engine block to chassis ground
Battery to chassis ground
Alternator to battery positive

Also, any good copper 4 awg cable will work. Do not use CCA (copper clad aluminium) wire!

Battery to engine (transmission housing) ground maybe instead of "Engine block to chassis ground"? Is there a large cable from the block to the chassis? I know there is a small one from the valve cover and power steering bracket over to the engine mount area.

The battery to chassis ground is a branch of the negative battery cable that bolts to the body right next to the battery.

[zedjr10]

Battery to engine (transmission housing) ground maybe instead of "Engine block to chassis ground"? Is there a large cable from the block to the chassis? I know there is a small one from the valve cover and power steering bracket over to the engine mount area.

The battery to chassis ground is a branch of the negative battery cable that bolts to the body right next to the battery.

I was wondering the same thing if there was a bigger ground wire from tranny or engine block to chassis. I see on some models there were but on 92 i don't see anything like that. On 92 that skinny wire from valve cover to ps bracket seems to be the equivalent.

I am also wondering why the 16 gauge wire runs to ps pump bracket then thicker 10 gauge or so goes to chassis. Shouldn't the thicker gauge wire be running from valve cover first? I doubt this is causing my alt problems but couldn't understand the reasoning for that wire configuration.

Now that i know the vibration in car is accompanied by voltage drop in my system. What the heck causes the vibration. It isn't like the rpms drop and then it vibrates. Is some electrical sensor or something not working right cause of less voltage than 12.6 it needs and causing misfires or something. This would explain my horrible city gas mileage. Or is the alternator reaching some point where it's force resistance is too great. Which also might explain horrible gas mileage in city with a perfectly running engine.

I still haven't checked volts from alternator yet. Got to read some tutorials. It seems easy but first time for me and my manual is hella confusing.

Also am wondering if my engine wire harness has a ground? Wouldn't that be the same as alternator ground?