jazfe

I'm cruising over to a friends house to do the holiday ritual of beer and brats when all of a sudden there is a loud pop from under the hood and huge puff of smoke trailing the car. Luckily I'm two blocks from my friends house. I pull up and pop the hood, there is still smoke boiling out. After the smoke clears I notice the serpentine belt is loose, I give a pull on it and it comes away clean, all one piece but no longer connected at both ends. Then my friend says "your alternator is looking sad". So I have a look see and what do you know, it's all bent out of shape. I try to give it a twist but it's locked up tight. In all of my years of wrenching on cars I've never seen an alternator freeze like that and NO warning what so ever. It just died like a lithium battery.

Azriel

Hey, an alternator and a belt is much easier to replace than an engine

Tommy T-Bone

x 2

larry00

Bearings seize up ! I had a Power steering pump seize up !

Railroadman

Not fun but could have been a lot worse. One of the best things is you have a "smoking gun", you know exactly what's wrong, which is better than trying to puzzle out something you don't know the cause of.

gerardvg

Hi
I have had an alternator almost lock up like that.
I had been ignoring a bit of a humming/rattle thinking power steering.
When i removed an disassembled the alternator found the bearing bad spun on the shaft was a reconditioned alternator....
Have since installed a brand spanker

On a sad note....
just heard another Australian soldier had lost his life in the line of duty in Afghanistan, God bless his soul and all who fight the war of terror.
I have the greatest respect for all who risk their life so there may be a better world.

bac22

I had a similar thing happen with my AC compressor when the bearings went south...thought my car was on fire...Talk about being horrified when it first happen!

kenv

fer sure.

mrmtrtrnd

Not a good thing to happen before the big dinner but like the other guys said the out come could have been so much worse. Easy fix and your on the road again.

cuengineer

I had my A/C compressor clutch go out suddenly which took out the serp belt. What was kind of frustrating is that I was totally immobile as a result since there is no way to drive without it. Not like the old days when you had multiple belts so that if PS or A/C bearings go out, you can still go. Only had to worry about water pump belt.

Glad it was relatively simple after the inital scare!

Yakko

Me too, same same.

JackDidley

When I had a C3, one night the alternater locked up. Motor was turning 6k in 2nd gear and it felt like the brakes locked up. Smoke rolled out from around the hood. I was freaking out till I opened the hood. Then I was thrilled to see, it was an easy fix.

RetiredSFC 97

generally they tell you when they are going south.

My AC pump on my PU did. rattled like a ****.

jazfe

You guys are right......easy fix and lucky for me, at a friends house who has tools.

hypntyz

I used to have an s-10 lowrider truck. I'd had bad luck with 2.8's in the past and was really hesitant to buy this truck due to that, but it ran very well and seemed to be like-new mechanically, and had never acted up in any way whatsoever in tens of thousands of miles prior to this.

I was towing a small car to a friend's house several hours away. He lived in virginia and his exit was at the top of this massive mountain that was like an 8% grade for 3 miles. My little s-10 with the awesome piece of GM engineering known as the 2.8L v6 producing a ground-thumping 125hp towed that car up the hill okay, struggled but it did it.

At the top of the hill I took the exit and as soon as I pushed in the clutch in the engine died. This had never happened before. I coasted to a stop and tried to restart it...click...click...click. Check volt gauge, showing strong 12. Click, click. Hmmm.

I assume the starter has gone bad and that's why it won't rotate now, so I call my buddy to come and pull the car the rest of the way to his house. He gets there and we unhook the dolly/car from my truck, and he tried to pull my truck to restart it. As soon as I drop the clutch the rear wheels lock up. It becomes obvious that the engine is locked solid. I assume that yet another 2.8 has **** the bed. I had to have him tow me 4.5 hours home after he dropped off the car at his house.

Late that night we get back to my house and I roll the truck into the garage disgusted.

The next day I decide to start pulling out the dead 2.8 and search for a good 4.3 to swap in. I'm pulling off accessories and such to start pulling the engine. I remove the fan and the serpentine belt. I walk back over to the truck and notice the water pump pulley is spinning slowly, after I just removed the belt. I think to myself, hmmmm....I wonder...

I spin the ps pulley, and it turns. I spin the water pump pulley, it turns. I go to spin the alternator, it is locked solid. Spin the crank itself, turns smoothly. :facepalmslap:

I went and bought an alternator, and drove that truck for another 3-4 years before selling it (still running perfectly).

IMO older GM alternators were pretty horrible. I've put more alternators on 80s/90s cavaliers and s-10s than I care to count.

jfb

When I first got my 87, I was coming home from the gun club out in the country and I heard a bang, the dash lit up like a Christmas tree and the coolant temp took off for the moon. I pulled into someones driveway and found the alternator pully had been loose and wore the alternator shaft into an hour glass shape and then bent over and let the serpentine belt fly. I got a belt and a rebuilt alternator and went out the next day and fixed it and drove it home.

Azriel

Did you leave it in their driveway? I'd let someone use my driveway if they needed

jfb

It was a farm and I parked in their farm yard and asked if I could leave it and come back and repair it. They said it was ok. When I came back, no one was home and I installed the alternator and belt and drove home.