Cascade Crew

Xophertony · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 2:27 am Post subject: so... i towed the GTA tonight....

so... i towed the GTA tonight....

LONG VERSION:
well i'm going out for a burger and a coke around midnightish, mostly an excuse to drive the GTA....i leave tannasbourne, drive up the freeway (just sorta cruising) drive back toward tannasbourne, exit at cornelius pass and fill up at the chevron, also pop the hood and investigte a verry loud air "wooshing" noise that just came up while i was on the freeway. sounds like a vaccum leak, only instead of being a small leak it's a leak the size of a bowling ball. its loud enough to hear at WOT. i am talking loud! sounds like the alternator. i think it may need replacing soon (in the next 100 miles or so) so i keep driving up evergreen toward the burgerking. as i am pulling into the usbank parking lot the sound dissappears and is replaced by a much quieter reverberation/humming noise (like a kazoo) with a little sensible vibration thrown in. i am now thinking more like replacement tomorow morning. i drive the rest of the way to BK (about two blocks).

as i am pulling into the BK parking lot smoke starts POURING out from under the hood, i can smell burning electrical components. i pop the hood and leave the engine running. i feel the hood for heat and pull it open. i look and smoke is coming from the alternator, it is also glowing red on the inside. i shut off the engine. smoke continues for a few minutes. once it ceses i call AAA and have tha car towed to my dads house in hillsboro. tomorow i will replace the alternator.

SHORT VERSION:
the alternator siesed, turned red and smoked. had car towed

so a couple of questions. before i called tripleA i tried restarting the car figuring "i only live four blocks away, i can make it home" and the car would not start, did not even turn over. yet the headlights worked, the interior lights worked, all the guages lit up. did the alternator put out a surge that fried my charging/starting system, or is the battery just too dead to start the car, but not all the way dead. what do you all think?

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2328

Alternator is prolly siezed up enough that the car won't turn over. I lost the alt on my pickup once and it locked the engine up to where it wouldn't start. Sounds like an easy fix.

Xophertony · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:03 am Post subject:

hope so. i'm off to do it now actualy. Smile

85 T/A WS6 · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:45 am Post subject:

Not sure if you have a serp belt or not, If you dont you could have cut or removed the alt belt and limped home on battery juice. (with no drain besides brake lights and spark you can go a decent distance, never tried it on my bird tho, just other cars)

If you have a serp belt (Im kinda thinking you do now) never mind!

TPI's suck the amps so make sure you get a good replacement (mine came with a 108 amp)

Xophertony · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 3:04 pm Post subject:

i do have serp. i just got the standard napa (lifetime guarantee'd) replacement. but w/o AC i think i will be ok.....

also it was the siesed alt that was preventing it from turning over. which is odd because when i yanked it off i spun it freely by hand.... but with the new alt in runs exelently

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 6:34 pm Post subject:

whew! glad it was something simple bud. alternators happen.

-Schultzy

iansane · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:47 am Post subject:

Xophertony · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:43 am Post subject:

iansane...... so what was the cause?

iansane · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 2:11 am Post subject:

I don't know, I was stupid and wrecked the car while on a roadtrip in cali. Motor ran find in my dads chevelle and never ruined a single alternator. My car was just cursed.

Xophertony · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 2:18 am Post subject:

that was the worst story ever..... Sad

i was waiting for the payoff and then nothing...

i'm just joking. that sucks, atleast the moter went to good use.

chevymad · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:00 pm Post subject:

GM alternators from this period just suck. And suck bad. I've gone through 8 or 9 over the years myself. You'll change them about every year until you get a good one, then it'll last quite awhile. Luck of the draw, I think. I'll say no more, dont need the jinx. If napa gave you the correct alternator for the application theres no worry bout the amps. The factory alternators were 105-110amp.

Xophertony · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:06 pm Post subject:

it's a remanufactured one. it actualy looks alot newer. the deges are rounded instead of squared. pretty cool looking.

mrpopo573 · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:51 pm Post subject:

I had to drop the exhaust to do my gta starter.

Damn you tpi. Glad your out with a simple fix dude, almost had me thinking you were another victim of GM GTA wiring.

Xophertony · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 6:16 pm Post subject:

gta wireing? whats wrong with it? Confused

mrpopo573 · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 11:26 am Post subject:

The gta is without a doubt beautiful.

However, I found my 80k original one owner GTA to have aged with so many bugs, bugs that I could never trace due to the huge addition of wiring for digital dash, onboard computer display, all of that great stuff that I loved, but yet only made it harder for me to chase a charging problem I could never solve.

Dimming headlights, non functional blinkers, SES light would come on I would drop so low on the charge, and even with new alternator, batteries, main lines, grounds, pulling dash, nothing would ever get better.

But you have an 88', which not being the first year, should be waaay better.
Even with all the crap, I still miss her. The power was so much better in the GTA.

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:08 pm Post subject:

stupid stupid alternators! think i have gone through 4 or 5 in 7 years. it never seems to happen as you are pulling into your driveway eh? I have a bunch of the taiwanesium torx bits that have been purchased for the cheap roadside fix.

-Schultzy

Xophertony · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:14 pm Post subject:

i am thinking of replacing those bolts with the hex head kind for easy maintinence in the future.... i also need to get a torqe wrench... anyone know what the alternator bolts are suposed to torque too? i just got em "good and tight".

chevymad · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 6:24 pm Post subject:

LMAO! As a professional mechanic, all I can say is... torque??? on alternator bolts?? Laughing

There a lmao smiley cause this definatly deserves it. Other then bearings and head bolts there isnt much you really need a tq wrench for. Even Mike's miniram intake said not to tq the bolts(or was that afr's instructions?) There are other cars that have exceptions to this rule but the sb chevy is pretty basic and easy to work on.

One other thing I tq is the wheel lugs. Not so much to make sure of their tightness but to be sure they're all even. Otherwise you can warp the rotors.

Now here's an exception that has nothing to do with the car.. Back when Mike first started workin on his GTA he was a bit shall we say "girlie". So some bolts never got tight enough. So if you too are a bit too "pretty boy" then you might need a tq wrench just to get a feel for how tight you're making things. This goes the other way too. He-man type guys might not know their own strength perhaps.. don't think we have any of those around here though. Razz

hmmm.. maybe the Hammer?

Xophertony · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 6:51 pm Post subject:

funny you should mention that.... the bottom torx bolt was finger loose on the old alt.

and yeah.. good point... i am used to working on suspension. on my 2.8 that was the only thing worth messing with. that car has a dam good steering and suspension in it.... whoever buys it is not going to have to replace anything for a few years at least... all top notch/gradeA type stuff. i plan to re-work the GTAs front end like that too. was undernieth it today and it appears as though it is all stock, or stock replacements. deffinatly a loosness to the front end (compared to the 2.8, still tight compared to what i would expect from a 17 year old car) i think wheel bearings will be first...

chevymad · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 7:03 pm Post subject:

If your old car has 15" wheels and your new one has the ws6 with 16's.. I'm afraid it'll always feel loose in comparison. The ws6 cars with the bigger tires have really bad manners on pavement with any type of ruts at all. Mine's totally rebuilt and theres times you worry that you'll get stopped for drunk driving. On the plus side the faster you go the better it drives.