Marlon

My alternator is only putting out about 13 volts according to my trusted Indy. Could be contributing to or causing some of my gage issues (fuel gage has a mind of it's own - but stays on FULL regardless of tank volume and drops to 0 at idle and the oil pressure needle will sometimes go down to 0 at idle - but no associated engine issues or noises - indicates 3 - 5+ depending on RPM when driving though)

Car runs like a freight train.

I am a pretty accomplished DiY'er - knock on wood

ivangene

I wont diagnos your problem - but I can say, watch out not to scratch the lower area of the opening and the top of your bumper cover (with black this is tough!)

I dont recall if you have to remove the intake center portion or not, but if you do the clamps are hard to reach... I lowered the engine down and it gave me WAY more room to work - Easy to do... just 2 large nuts on the bottom of the motor mounts and down it goes (with a jack of course!) then you can just rest it on the cross member, but I didnt.. I left it slightly up - dont like things being held up that way...

GL - again... I dont know if that is the problem, but if you do it, these tips might help -

OH and real long extensions so you dont have to reach in is good too

Marlon

Thanks!!!! Where do I place my jack pad under the engine? Duuhhhh if I should know this...

ivangene

I placed mine on the motor mount cross bar... you cannot lift the car by this point but IMO its fine to hold the motor by because .... well.... it already is !

jmla

Marlon, I was told that 13V is good, I haven't seen any 996's put out more than 14. Here's a thread about removing a GT3 alternator, I don't think that it's too different from your's: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-gt2-...r-failure.html

Mfletch

I highly recommend disconnecting the battery first, unless you want to do a little arc welding. I was being lazy when I did mine. I won't be stupid enough to try that one again. It was a fairly easy DIY. With a comfy chair and good music, it was almost fun. Good luck.

Marlon

Awesome - thanks!!!!

Tippy

The one thru-bolt - loosen the bolt until loose and then turn about a 1/4 to 1/2 turn more, then tap the head with a hammer to slide the bushing/nut back.

This will make a gap that will help with R&R.

Marlon

My ahmeter is indicating about 13.5?!?!!? I checked my battery voltage this morning at 12.23 - 25V - maybe I have a cluster issue then??? Also I notice every now and then the temp will go right up to 250 at idle. Then it goes right back down to 185 when I come off idle. So to recap:

Battery appears good, gage indicates ok, fuel, druk pressure and water temp all have minds of their own - thoughts anyone??? Gage cluster remlins maybe...

ivangene

I dont think I would be hoping out to get a new alternator - I am fairly sure you can have it checked for free - just stop by your indy or even some autoparts store if you trust them -

thoughts? - wow...thats a wierd and I bet bothersome / worrysome set of issues.. I dont know -

Tippy

Im not sure how the cluster is wired but Im wondering if you have a simple grounding issue.

Robin 993DX

I had to remove the alternator to get to the SAI valve when I replaced it. Here is the DIY article that I wrote for it.
http://p-car.com/996/diy/sai/mainpage.html

ivangene

+1 for Cory

perryinva

I've said this a bunch of times on different forums, and more often than not, it is usually true...replace the battery. It's cheap, easy, fast. And if it's not the battery, what are you out? $60 to $100, but you have a new battery, that you KNOW is good. If the problems go away,...great, if they don't, well, you got a new battery and a spare if you want. I've had batteries cause so may bizarre issue in the last 10 years it's truely scary. I've had new ones die after a year, cause igintion switches to sometimes not work, cause gauges to act unusual, cause the stereo to distort, heck I had one battery fry the old alternator and then the new one I put in afterwards, but the battery read fine with a meter and a store tester. Knock on wood, none of this happened in the 996, but I did replace the battery right after I bought it, JUST because I seem to be a bad battery magnet, and when I bought the car, the battery was totally dead from no use. Unless your alternator has high miles on it, like 80k or more, (in which case, you may as well replace it, and the water pump), I'd do the battery first.

Tippy

Ed, please dont post my IQ