Not another alternator post...

[660Ryder]

Two months ago I experienced what I thought were alternator-induced problems; heat turning on and off, volt-meter fluctuating between 10 and 14 volts, electrical stuff going haywire...). Crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Now I have those symptoms again; they had disappeared for a couple months, but both the battery and brake light appear simultaneously for a few seconds now and then.

My question: Do I need to address the problem immediately or can I wait it out until summer, when I return home from school?

I am assuming that the alternator is the culprit; what can I damage by not replacing it ASAP? (Will I kill the battery or strand myself somewhere?)

What is a reasonable price for the labor + parts required to do the job? I want to walk in with an idea of what the estimate should be beforehand.

I appreciate any and all help/information forthcoming!

[Ramblin Fever]

Just depends on conditions, including the weather. If you're encountering a lot of cold weather starts, specially below freezing/32F, you're gonna use up what life is left soon.

Generally, in these Isuzu's, *you* don't have the choice, the truck will make that for you - as I can guarantee you, if it IS in fact a failing alternator, that Isuzu will kill it much sooner then you're wanting it too.

Most vehicles can run/thrive just fine on lower voltage and not even flinge, these Isuzu's are not that way, if they see a weakness, like the Alpha canine, they'll kill it.

In this case, there's no way we can tell you whether or not it can wait for summer; cause I will tell you now if it is a weakness in the voltage system, you may get a few more weeks if you drive very sparingly, but you'll be lucky.

Chances are no damage will occur to anything, with the exception of killing off the life of the battery - but I've replaced my alternator 3 times now, and twice the battery had to be replaced too. It seems fairly common for them both - alt/battery - to go around the same time, if they're over 5yrs, that much more likely.

Now, you will start to experience weird symptoms, i.e no heat, no defrost, sometimes no radio, if you have an automatic, transmission can start to feel like it's slipping and/or the feel of no power.

I have heard of people replacing their transmissions, thinking they were at fault, when in fact, the truck wasn't putting off the power to drive the transmission. But to actual damage caused to the tranny, I honestly believe, the truck'll kill the weak source before damage occurs.

Double check all your grounds, first, before you go further in buying parts though - specially the battery cables. I had to replace my whole battery cables and connections last year, they had completely rotted out.

[Ramblin Fever]

Forgot to add, if you run the truck solely on the battery for 2 days - this is what I had to do when my last alt failed (no one had one in stock), it will for sure kill it.

Whether or not the truck will strand you, most likely, if you shut it down after it fails.

When my last alt failed, I was doing 65mph on the highway - no kidding; lost all lights, heat, radio, but the damn truck kept running. My gauges even went haywire - all of them. I never stopped, had just barely made it back into the Colorado state line, had a truck full of cargo, dogs, people on a cold afternoon - truck brought us all the way home, 200 miles after the alt croaked.

Fired that truck up the next morning, with the help of a jump-starter; did that for 2 mornings before I drove it to the shop for a new alt on a Tuesday. This could've been bad however, as the battery that was in it at the time was around 5 1/2yrs old and had literally started to blow-up, leaking acid down the side.

[surferfletch]

Curious to know where you got the alternator and if it was a new or reman alt.

[660Ryder]

Great information! Keep it coming!

Any idea on how much I should be looking to spend on a new alternator + labor? Should I provide the alternator to ensure a quality one is used? I have searched and found price ranges from $200 to over $600... This might not be much fun at all...There goes all of my work/study money. I plan on calling around on Monday to get some quotes and get a feel for the damages soon to be incurred

Any more out there!?!?!

[tahusker]

I just had the alternator on my '98 replaced this week. It was $260 for the alternator (Denso, I believe) and another $100 or so for installation. But a different shop had quoted me $400 for a replacement alt and $200 for install . . . which I passed on. So like you I had found a great deal of variance on price.

Fortunately, I was able to take mine to a shop in town that Ramblin Fever from this board recommended . . . so I was pretty comfortable with the lower estimate.

So . . . not sure if that helps you at all. But that is pretty recent info from what I just went through.

[Ramblin Fever]

Tahusker - are you sure your new one isn't a Bosch?

Vern refused to install anything but a Bosch on mine, stated they last the longest. I do have the older year of a Rodeo too, so he may have used a different brand for yours.

[trooperbc]

bosch doesn't make new alternators for isuzu. afaik.
they do remanufacture (rebuild) original equipment alternators for isuzu -- denso and (another brand also i believe).
i like their product the best for a good value to price ratio. i have used rebuilt by bosch products for many years for a number of vehicles. they seem to do excellent work.

here's a link to their usa site

http://www.bosch.us/centennial/

and to the autoparts part of their site

http://www.boschautoparts.com/


hth


//bc

[tahusker]

Originally Posted by Ramblin Fever

Tahusker - are you sure your new one isn't a Bosch?

Vern refused to install anything but a Bosch on mine, stated they last the longest. I do have the older year of a Rodeo too, so he may have used a different brand for yours.

Hmmm . . . I'll double check, but I was pretty sure they mentioned Denso. I'll find out and post if it's something different. Mine's a '98, but the manufacture date was Sept 97.

Thanks for the referral to Vern, by the way . . . nice group of people and they got me all taken care of very quickly. Just in time for the deep freeze and more snow!

[Ramblin Fever]

It's very possible they did use Denso on yours; they're good alt's too.

Found a pick & pull place in Commerce City that has boat loads of Isuzu Rodeo's sitting around to pull parts from - just for FYI. Gonna take a ride over there next weekend and pick up some odds/ends, as they have Tacoma parts as well - looking for a used Bull bar so I can mount the fog lights.

It's VERY hard to locate any Isuzu parts in junkyards around here, so I was really shocked to hear they had so many. He did say that they get picked apart pretty fast.

We're taking a road trip to Alaska this summer from Colorado - the Rodeo is gonna be our ride and I'd just like to carry a few extra cheap parts just incase; including another spare tire that I'll mount inside the luggage carrier.

[tahusker]

Nice!

If it looks promising, let me know where it is. I need to replace a cracked side mirror (passenger side) that my garage jumped out and hit without provocation last year.

[Ramblin Fever]

Originally Posted by tahusker

that my garage jumped out and hit without provocation last year.

[Cat Fuzz]

$100 labor to replace an alternator?? I can do it less than 20 minutes. I could charge $50 replacing alternators all day and be RICH!

[660Ryder]

Originally Posted by Cat Fuzz

$100 labor to replace an alternator?? I can do it less than 20 minutes. I could charge $50 replacing alternators all day and be RICH!

Is it that simple of a job? I heard all types of nightmares about dropping exhaust pipes, lifting the motor and whathaveyou. I'm still waiting for my repair manual to arrive so I can see exactly what needs to be done...

[Ramblin Fever]

It's the starter that's the nightmare.

Alternator isn't too bad, I would've done mine myself - except at that time, I already had one truck I was working on with a headgasket failure and both trucks were daily drivers that were down during the same week.

Neither one of us could afford to take time off and had to resort solely to the Rodeo for transportation.

And to be honest, with as much as we found ourselves working on our old Toyota, we were getting fed up with being out in the cold constantly - every week something was happening to that old toy, I'd fix one thing, something else would break.

Replacing the Rodeo's alt myself was the last thing on my mind, I needed help getting them both back on the road fast.

Thankfully we finally began to see the light, and traded that old Toy (it was 20yrs old) for a much newer one that's under warranty for quite some time.

Yes, the alternator is a very simple job, it's the starter that's the nightmare - if you have the 4x4.