[4th Gen : 01-07]: Engine noise?? Check your Alternator
#1
11-14-2017, 07:25 PM
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Engine noise?? Check your Alternator
Just a quick heads up to others to consider your alternator as a source of noise.
I have a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan which has been getting louder this past Summer. I thought it was the Alternator, but recently took it in for an oil change. At my request, one of the guys took it around the block to listen. The noise got louder when the A/C compressor kicked in and the vehicle was in gear and sitting still, like at a fast food drive through or at a stop light. So they gave me a written estimate for $650 to replace the AC Compressor. This would have included about $200 labor.
When I got home I used my car stethoscope. I don't know why I didn't do this to begin with. It turned out to indeed be one of the bearings on the alternator, the one farthest from the pulley.
At the advice of a good friend who is a retired auto mechanic I went to a large junkyard and found a replacement alternator for about $30. He put it in for a dinner out.
I figured that with the price of a new alternator at about $200 ($300 for Mopar), or a reman being at about $100 (or $200 for Mopar), plus the price of labor probably at another $100+, I did pretty well. I'd like to think that the auto repair place would have detected their error and given me a quote for the alternator job instead. Bottom line, if they hadn't, it would have come to about $1000 just to fix it. If they did correctly figure it out before charging, then it probably would have been more like $350.
One of the moderators here correctly stated that the alternator is a common main source of noise for my generation of van, and that was a big help.
Thank you.
I have a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan which has been getting louder this past Summer. I thought it was the Alternator, but recently took it in for an oil change. At my request, one of the guys took it around the block to listen. The noise got louder when the A/C compressor kicked in and the vehicle was in gear and sitting still, like at a fast food drive through or at a stop light. So they gave me a written estimate for $650 to replace the AC Compressor. This would have included about $200 labor.
When I got home I used my car stethoscope. I don't know why I didn't do this to begin with. It turned out to indeed be one of the bearings on the alternator, the one farthest from the pulley.
At the advice of a good friend who is a retired auto mechanic I went to a large junkyard and found a replacement alternator for about $30. He put it in for a dinner out.
I figured that with the price of a new alternator at about $200 ($300 for Mopar), or a reman being at about $100 (or $200 for Mopar), plus the price of labor probably at another $100+, I did pretty well. I'd like to think that the auto repair place would have detected their error and given me a quote for the alternator job instead. Bottom line, if they hadn't, it would have come to about $1000 just to fix it. If they did correctly figure it out before charging, then it probably would have been more like $350.
One of the moderators here correctly stated that the alternator is a common main source of noise for my generation of van, and that was a big help.
Thank you.