I just cut the air pump belt because it the pump bearing squeaked a lot. Now the alternator is doing it too. Can I just squirt some light lube on it without screwing it up?
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vaporizer store

That's a temp fix at best. Spray lube may find it's way to the bearing in front, but it won't properly lube it. It's best to open the alternator up and grease the bearings.

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Could it be your idler pulley instead ?





Dave

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81 Dodge D150
It looked easier in the book .

are you sure it is the bearing,and not the belt that is making the noise?
seems odd that 2 different bearings would fail at the same time. belts however,do tend to squeak a lot.
an easy check for a squeaky belt - get a cake of soap and hold it against the inner surface of the belt while it is running (watch the fingers!)
soap is a good temporary lubricant for noisy belts.

cheers,CRM

When I had my Valiant I replaced the alternator three times in the space of a month for squeeking failing bearings. The first two times were with two rebuilt units that also squeeked that were purchased from a discount chain.

I then had a heart to heart discussion with the owner of an independent store in Northern California who clued me in that many rebuilt units simply regreased and re-used the older bearings if they seemed ok. He had a unit -- more expensive -- that had all new or rebuilt parts. Essentially only the housing was re-used. I never had to replace that one.

Just my two cents on actual experience twenty years ago with a Plymouth Valiant with a slant six in it.

Now, God knows this is with an alternator on a different motor, but it's a Mopar motor. I had an 89 Turbo LeBaron (2.5) that periodically had squeeking belts. I have owned quite a few Mopar products, btw. I know the belts are different. The issue was that the mount bushings were worn and allowed the pulleys to sit at an angle so that the belts were rubbing the sides of the pulley too much. Look sideways at the pulleys on your engine and make sure they line up and are square with the others.

It is also not a bad idea to pick up a mechanics stethoscope with a rod attached. This will help you quickly determine the source of many high frequency bearing sounds that are otherwise difficult to pinpoint.

Incidentally, one of the ways engineers determine how much lifespan is left in bearings is by the sound they make. If yours are squeeking audibly, that's bad. Regreasing should be a very temporary fix.

Gather 'round, buoys 'n' gulls, it's Story Time With Uncle Dan!

In late 2000 I was driving a well-used '91 ex-police Chev Caprice. It was a white whale with a police blue interior, plain flat wheels, and plain exterior trim. It was a "king of the road" car, one of those that made other drivers drive extra-politely and get out of the way just in case I might be a cop. I never so much as got looked at sideways when I would use the "emergency vehicles only" turnarounds on the interstate. Nevertheless, that car was an unwise purchase—it soured me forever on eBay cars. It lunched its "rebuilt" transmission shortly after I bought it (ch-ching!), and its headlight housings were broken so the lights pointed way up in the sky (har har de har ). I took to calling it "The Crapiece".

At the time I was in a long-distance relationship; I lived in Michigan, 500km away from my sweetie in Toronto, and was driving up and back very frequently. At one point, checking under the hood before heading home from Toronto, I had a few concerns regarding the alternator in the Crapiece. One or both of its bearings had begun making a slight bit of noise, and I was wondering if it'd get me 500km home in one piece. I gave the front bearing a couple squirts of Tri-Flow, and by the time I got back to Michigan, it had stopped making noise. I was busy, so I forgot about the bearing and kept using the Crapiece. Noisy bearings don't fix themselves!

So the morning of 30 January 2001, after a prolonged birthday weekend in Toronto, I hit the 401 to drag myself back to Michigan. About 56 klicks Southwest of Toronto, the smells of deep-fat-frying metal and burning insulation (so it wasn't the blower fan resistor after all...) permeated the car, and this hair-raising grinding noise began—think of a Saginaw steering pump gone very bad or a buzz saw chawing on chips and chunks of tool steel, and you've got the idea.

At first, I thought the power steering pump had locked up and lunched the (new) serpentine belt. The P/S pump had been working OK but making noise on cold mornings. Or at least I thought it was the P/S pump making noise. But then it occurred to me that I still had steering assist and the engine temperature wasn't climbing, so I supposed the alternator to
have locked up. Then it occurred to me that everything else was still turning and I wasn't smelling burning rubber, but hot metal, so I supposed the alternator bearing to have failed. As if to confirm my driver's seat diagnosis, the "AMP" light came on, the voltmeter dropped, and the grinding noise (of the locked front bearing spinning in the front housing) grew louder.

I hit the first exit, found it completely devoid of any services, and so got back on the 401, still grinding and discharging, and pressed onward to the next exit a couple kilometres along, grinding and stinking, found an Esso station, parked, and flipped open the hood. The front half of the alternator was that nice cooked-metal pink in colour, and absolutely spotless (cf self-cleaning oven) except for some flakes of ash that had been engine compartment grease. Also, a big plume of smoke was pouring from the alternator. I went in the Esso, bought a bottle of water, and poured it over the searing-hot alternator. The water scarcely touched the alternator itself; it immediately flashed into steam. It had the intended effect, though, cooling the internals down enough that nothing would catch on fire (though I think the C-store clerk wasn't so confident on that score). The second litre of water did make it all the way onto/into the alternator and things were cooled down to what seemed like a safer level. The clerk pointed me to a Canadian Tire one block away, so I started the car back up and made a gonzo run for it.

I'd figured that once I allowed the alternator to stop turning, it would weld itself solid, particularly with my water cooling, and I was right. Goodbye, new serpentine belt...rubber smoke wafted in through the dash vents. I nonchalantly told the Canadian Tire folks I had a Caprice with a dead alternator. An indifferently "remanufactured" unit at retail parts and labour prices, grr, but the funny part was they gave me the core charge. I'm here to tell you, there was absolutely nothing re-usable on or in the alternator they removed!

By and by I sold that car to a Philipino-American kid who had never driven anything but the Japanese toasters his parents bought.

The short answer to your question is "Sure, go ahead and oil the bearing, but it's still bad."

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Soap, I'll try that. Learn something new everyday! The air pump has been squealing on and off for a couple of years. I got worried it was getting ready to lay down on me and the belt was the original I'm sure. It was ready to go at any time as well. Everything goes in three's, so I'm due one more with this one
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Ford Verve concepts history

May have found some of the cause for the alternator noise. Found my battery dry after smelling sulfur. Tested the charge and I'm getting close to 18 volts at idle. I pulled the two little wires on the alternator and tested zero ohms to ground on one but the other showed about 6 ohms. Is it still usable since its making plenty of juice? The voltage regulator has been oozing epoxy for years but I'm not sure if I need to replace it too. The battery is 6 years old so I guess it will probably go as well. I'll checking the grounding pionts today. Lemme know what your verdict is.
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BMW Sauber F1.06

Add one new battery to your shopping list.
Uh…yeah, you need to replace it. (Massive overvoltage and the regulator puking its guts all over the firewall and you're not sure? What would it take to persuade you?)


But the overcharging is not related to the bearing noise. That won't go away until you have an alternator with good bearings in it.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Yeah? Well, sure when you put it that way it sounds bad but the old voltage regulator is like an old friend. Its always been there for me till now. I'm having seperation anxiety. I dread Chinese replacements! I really wish stuff would stop breaking for awhile. My wallet is smoking!
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Threesome mexican

Since you will be replacing almost your entire charging system, you may want to consider upgrading to a later style alternator as is discussed HERE