Alternator Replacement

[airwear]

I am quite sure my alternator is dead. My gauge used to show 13+V when I was underway, but now it is under 12V, and my battery is dead. I put in a new battery and the gauge is still showing only 12V. I will take a multimeter to it this weekend and check the voltage right off of the alternator, and check the cables too.

In the event that the alternator is not working, is it a simply thing to replace? It looks like just 2 bolts and a few wires. Although, I am sure I may impact the tension of the belt?!? I have a 2000 Prostar with the LTR engine.

Please give me some direction and advice as I am really hoping I can do this myself instead of having to put the boat on the trailer and towing it to a place that is going to charge me too much money.

[6ballsisall]

As you said, a few bolts and it's off. Put the new alternator on and get the belt taut again and you are golden.

[airwear]

How do you tighten the belt??? I have not looked at it enough to be able to figure this out??

[6ballsisall]

How do you tighten the belt??? I have not looked at it enough to be able to figure this out??
Would have to see a pic of the front of your motor. On mine the bracket that holds on the Alternator has lots of length adjustments in it and is used to pull the belt taut. Yours probably is like that or you may have a tensioner of some sort to tighten it all up. Take a look, it should be a pretty simple deal.

[airwear]

Thanks Jeff.

I will take a closer look this weekend. If it looks like the current alternator is dead, I may see how the tensioning works when I take the dead one off.

Otherwise, I will be taking pictures and posting them on Monday for more advice.

[airwear]

Yup, mine had a tensioner on it. By accident I figured out how to loosen the belt. There is a bolt in the middle of the tensioner wheel, when you try to tighten the bolt, it moves the tensioner wheel, allowing some slack in the belt, enough to get it off the alternator. I first loosened the bolt and saw that it did nothing, so I tightened it back up and when it became snug, it moved the wheel!

With the belt loose, it was easy to get the alternator off. Now I am going to get it rebuilt and hopefully be back on the water this weekend.