I have a 96 Civic with a B16 swap, and ever since I had the transmission replaced at the dealer I've been replacing alternator every few months.

I've been through 3 alternators in less than a year:
The first started pulsating voltage up and down, making weEEee weEEee weEEee sounds.
The second stopped capping the voltage at 15v without warning and blew my battery up...
Now I'm on the third alternator which is pulsating voltage and whining the "little piggy song" but staying under 15v for now.

1. What makes this happen? What should I check?
2. Are aftermarket "pep-boys" brand alternators really that crappy?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondapwr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
2. Are aftermarket "pep-boys" brand alternators really that crappy?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would say so. I've had one in my ex's car that only lasted 3 months.
I'll never buy one again from them.

 

if all of them are pepboys alts. then i would say yes. Somethings wrong with there rebuilds that there crap.

Check your grounds though, maybe theres a short somewhere from when the dealer worked on your car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Luserkid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check your grounds though, maybe theres a short somewhere from when the dealer worked on your car. </TD></TR></TABLE>

A short would do it, it would cause the Alt to be maxed out at 110% all the time. A way to check this is put an ampmeter on it after it has been running for while with the engine still running. However only do this if you have experiance. Hooking an ampmeter on an alternator is not the safest/easiest thing to do.

Cheers and good luck.

 

The grounds were the first thing I checked. I have nice 8 gauge wire for all of them.

So once I hook up the Ameter what do I look for? How does it tell me if I have a short? Are there other ways of finding a short that don't risk me frying my a$$ ?

 

the ampmeter will tell you if you are drawing a lot of amps, liek the maximum output of you alternator, it is one way to tell if you have a possible short.

other than that you can look for dim headlights i guess. hard to say. it is just one of the possibilities for goign through alternators. The fact you buy them from "pep boys" would be my first guess.

and yes you can fry your "a$$". it takes as little as 75mA to stop your heart, your alternator can make as much as 60 000mA. Please don't try it unless you have the equipment and the know how.

Cheers and happy diagnosing!