Weird thing happened to the Chevelle!

[Tripper]

A while back the Chevelle just quit running & refused to even turn over. Ok... I'm pretty much DIY & tried everything even a new starter to no avail so I finally gave up & took it to the shop. It has a serpentine front runner system & the problem was the alternator totally froze up & wouldn't allow the motor to even turn over. I have to admit... I would have never suspected this & would still be trying to figure it out! Going to pick it up Friday & will be glad to have a car with A/C again... yipppeee!!!

BoB

 

[Country Misfit]

That is strange,most of the time things lock up while your going down the road and it smokes the belt,or throws the belt.

 

[Bamamav]

Wow. My wife's Expedition chunked the belt the other day, lucky she was about a block from a shop. They put a new belt on, she left, went about two blocks, and it went to making a heck of a racket. The belt had jumped off the tensioner pulley and wrapped around the arm, but was still turning! Upon closer inspection, the tensioner was found to be bad. The pulley spun freely, but the housing had worn so that it was pulling the belt into the block eating it up. A new tensioner and another new belt made it as good as new.

 

[Willowbilly3]

I had an S10 come in on the hook once and they said it quit and wouldn't start, same thing, the alternator was froze up and the starter couldn't spin it.
Crappy delco pos alternators and a great serpentine system.

 

[donsrods]

I would have never thought an alternator could keep a motor from cranking. Very odd.

Don

 

[rvreddog]

I had an A\C compressor do that once.I was 800 miles from home and couldn`t figure it out.Finally cought on to what was happening and fixed it with a pocket knife.

 

[Tripper]

I had an S10 come in on the hook once and they said it quit and wouldn't start, same thing, the alternator was froze up and the starter couldn't spin it. Crappy delco pos alternators and a great serpentine system.

Actually this is the 2nd time this alternator crapped out on me but the 1st time it didn't freeze up. This time I'm having it rebuilt by a local shop!

I would have never thought an alternator could keep a motor from cranking. Very odd.

Don

Me either Don... never would have guessed it!

I had an A\C compressor do that once.I was 800 miles from home and couldn`t figure it out.Finally caught on to what was happening and fixed it with a pocket knife.

Pocket knife is a great tool... haha!

BoB

 

[Willowbilly3]

Seems like there might be an upgrade alternator with a better bearing. Bearing failure was very common on those early serpentine system Chevy alternators.

 

[Tripper]

Seems like there might be an upgrade alternator with a better bearing. Bearing failure was very common on those early serpentine system Chevy alternators.

It's a not so cheap frontrunner system from Vintage Air. I shouldn't have to worry about this considering the $$$ I paid! Just glad that's all it was though... supposed to pick it up on Friday! Can't wait!!!

BoB

 

[sgtpontiac]

I can see why you'd be miss that gal..

A while back the Chevelle just quit running & refused to even turn over. Ok... I'm pretty much DIY & tried everything even a new starter to no avail so I finally gave up & took it to the shop. It has a serpentine front runner system & the problem was the alternator totally froze up & wouldn't allow the motor to even turn over. I have to admit... I would have never suspected this & would still be trying to figure it out! Going to pick it up Friday & will be glad to have a car with A/C again... yipppeee!!!

BoB

Yep...first I ever heard of alt causing a full lock up of motor...but then I'm not an expert on the serpentine belt systems...could you have a tensioner that's simply to heavy and putting strain on the alt bearings? Best guess out of this old Vbelt kinda guy....lol..

 

[jfg455]

It's a not so cheap frontrunner system from Vintage Air. I shouldn't have to worry about this considering the $$$ I paid! Just glad that's all it was though... supposed to pick it up on Friday! Can't wait!!!

BoB

heh...look closely at who actually makes the alternator in those systems...I've installed 3 different systems for 3 different people and all 3 have had the alternator fail in the first year. All 3 were made in china and chromed.

 

[Tripper]

heh...look closely at who actually makes the alternator in those systems...I've installed 3 different systems for 3 different people and all 3 have had the alternator fail in the first year. All 3 were made in china and chromed.

1st one just crapped out... bearing totally froze up on this one! That's why I'm having it rebuilt at a pretty good local shop.

BoB

 

[Tripper]

Glad my other girlfriend is home again. All's good & while she was there I had them fix a lil dent in the passengers front fender under the V-8 insignia. The ding was my fault & I got pretty mad at myself. Had to pay the piper $500. Luckily they still had some paint from the last time.

BoB