picked up my new 'retta today........alternator issue?

[themadness]

mind helpin me I.D. those wires? description?

how tight should the drive belt be?

[DTMAce]

You should not be able to deflect the drive belt more than an inch or so by pushing down or pulling up on it, unless you really put force into it. You can test this where the belt is between the alternator and the power steering pump. If you can move it up and down a lot without much effort, then the tensioner is shot and needs replaced, or the belt is stretched/worn and may need replaced. (if this were happening to me I would just replace both)

But if you push on it, and it only moves about an inch before getting really tight and hard to move any further you should be fine. I can force mine to move farther, but then I can see the tensioner move too, and its really hard to make it move that far, or it should be.

I don't know what the "rated" force or a way to measure it would be. Watch your belt travel while the engine runs, see if its flapping or vibrating, etc. It should be fairly steady and not flex or alter its look/contour, even with RPM changes.

As to where everything else. Oyi.

Obviously, there is a red wire connected to the alternator. There should be at least 2 ground straps. One on the transmission, and one going from the backside of the engine to the firewall. On the firewall, I think it was located right beneath the wiper motor. I think there was another, but can't recall where. The one on the transmission is usually hooked up with the ground on the battery, so simply follow stuff, to see where they go. The battery also feeds the starter, and the alternator wire connects to the battery near the positive lug. Charging circuits are not that complicated. To charge the battery, the red wire has to connect to the battery at some point along the positive wire. Mine I believe is terminated right in the battery lug with the main cable.

If all these things seem to be tight and free of corrosion, then it may just be a bad alternator. Get it replaced.

[3X00-Modified]

There is only one ground strap on the 3100's, its from the trans stud to the battery, the rest are done through the harness to get from the battery to the frame... This is why the Big3 is so necessary at times.

[DTMAce]

Ah. I just knew there was on the firewall, figured it went to the backside of the engine someplace, my bad.