I changed my alternator as a preventative maintenance and now the van drives much lighter but the biggest improvement was the stronger brakes. I thought this was strange because I thought the powerfrompowerbrakes is from the vacuum of the engine. The knocking soundthat I use to hearis also gone.

This might not matter but last year I changed my battery to Optima when the van would not start because of a dead battery.

Anybody have the same experience?

 

humm who told u to replace your alt ne way?? I have been a tech for 11 plus years and i have replaced them only 4 times and that was because of noise or some one had messed with it and shorted it out.
Plus u know why them brakes feel better? its called the placebo effect. =)

 

You changed your altenator for preventive maitenance reasons???? Are you saying you changed your perfectly working altenator for no reason except you were afraid it would fail? WHY?

 

Well guys, I have done that too. Not the alternator but the water pump and oil pump. Nothing is as crappy as getting these parts out. I replaced the timing belt and decided not to go back in there for a while.....

 

I have a hunch that the alternator was failing but I there was no engine light yet. The headlights would get dim on idle and get stronger when rpm is higher the same with the a/c fan. For one thing I do not want to get stuck on the side of the road for something I could have prevented.

Going back to the brakes I was wondering if the ABS electrical system have something to do with the brakes being stronger. On the other thought maybe the Optima battery that I put in was probably compensating somewhat for the alternator.

As for the placebo effect comment I do not take that lightly. I haveother cars which I modify so any improvement or the opposite I can usually tell.