Alternator swap

[maximus7001]

Greetings. Today was real hot, 34.4c (94f), 66% humidity, tied the 1967 record. I was driving the Eagle for 90min in the afternoon rush hour. Drives great and the a/c works well for a wagon. Yesterday was almost as hot and the IGN module in my Safari fried during the afternoon rush hour. Times like this will find any heat related weakness and exploit it.

After dark I had to run to the store so jumped in the Eagle. The ALT light glowed the slightest bit of red after starting up. Went to light a smoke and the ALT light got a bit brighter until the lighter popped. Got back from the store and the ALT light was completely off.

This is a sign that the alternator might fail soon.

What is the difference between the '85 and '81 alternators besides the different cooling fans? There is an almost new one in the Concord with about 5000km on it.

[amcinstaller]

cooling fan designs tend to vary with the amount of air flow required, rotation, and year. i would think that the alternators should be compatible, assuming they are both the delco si series or the bosch equivalent. also check the battery for good measure.

[JayRamb]

Do you have a Delco or Motorola alternator?

[ammachine390]

Do they both provide the same number of amps?

[maximus7001]

These are delco in an '85 Eagle and an '81 Concord. The '85 has the black plastic fan and the '81 has the metal fan, both v-belt.

No charging problems as of yet.

[maximus7001]

Do they both provide the same number of amps?

No idea about the amps. The Concord is a fully loaded car except for the power seats. It has rear defrost lines (that never did work since I owned it).

The only options the Eagle has are a/c and fancy am/fm.

[amcinstaller]

id throw it in. i remembered after i posted how we took the alternator from my corsica (which was boosted to provide 120 amps) and were goin to put it on a coworkers car but the bolt ears had changed between the two models of car. i doubt it would be the case here, but one more thing to consider.