The Modern Ride

[9Fingers]

I drive a 2003 Mazda Protege for commuting. Had great service from a 1994, 330k miles and it drove away when the next guy took ownership.

I went to start it yesterday and smoked the alternator belt. In no time it burned right through the belt. Culprit was the alternator, bearings froze up.

As luck would have it, we have a parts car out by the garage. I figured, no problem, I will pull that alternator, it should have plenty of life in it, as it was replaced sometime in the last couple of years, before that engine started drinking oil. We've pulled several parts from this car to keep the other two on the road. We've had good luck finding low mileage cars for good prices. And though its some work, running the miles we do, its better to run the miles up on a used car than losing so much value with newer models.

As expected, the bolts were relatively easy to remove on the parts car. However, the main long bolt on the car I was repairing was not so forgiving. I started slowly moving the bolt, click by click, with the ratchet. After about 5 minutes, it quickly got very easy. Oh, its all the way out, that went quicker than I thought. Nope! Rusty threads bound up in the aluminum and instead of stripping the aluminum, the bolt sheared off. Great, now what? Up on the jack stands, maybe I can get the wheel out of the way and drill out the bolt. No, that won't work, strut is in the way. Used the recip saw with a long blade to cut the bolt off flush. Finally, out with the old alternator. Then I took the replacement alternator from the parts car, and compared the two. Hey, that doesn't look good. The is a buss bar covered in plastic that conducts electricity from the alternator output bolt, along the alternator to another bolt where the battery wire connects. The buss connection had come loose and had arced enough to burn the stud away where the buss bar bolted down, then the buss bar rusted. I don't even know how it was still charging in the parts car. Handling and getting it out was the last straw, and the last bits of rust let loose and the connection separated. Called the parts store to ask if there was a warranty on this replacement alternator, Yes sir there is. Drove down, gave them the old one, they gave me a new one, and a receipt with $0. Same bar codes and stickers were on both units. Back home, get socket and snug up the buss bar connection Real Good, on new alternator. Installed new alternator, old belt from parts car after removing the ac belt, reinstall ac belt, smog canister back in place, bolt down the cruise control, tire back on, jack stand out, crank down the jack. Car cranked, no belt squeal, no battery light. Loaded trash, called the dog, and drove to the dump. Not what I planned to do today(finish the last few wires on the 65 4x4) but good to know the commuter is roadworthy again.

[slick4x4]

If a person would have called a shop
They would have towed it in
And the bill would have been scary-bad.....

Good job on keeping ANY brand of vehicle on the road for cheap