Hello;

The red battery light indicator for my car (1997 Plymouth Breeze) symbol came on. The battery ran down.

I know that it could be that the alternator has quit working. I also know that it could be something like the voltage regulator.

Does anybody have any suggestions what might be the problem?

Thanks.

 

if you can get the car to a chain auto parts store, they can test what part of the charging system isn't working. it's not common for the voltage regulator to go. I can guess that the alternator was never changed. It's not uncommon for it's age to fail.

 

ratsttam;

Thanks for responding to my post. I called the NAPA auto parts store. They said that they can test my alternator.

I tried to remove the alternator today. I got all of the bolts out of it. I removed the belt.

I removed the lower pivot bolt. The alternator is loose. It looks like it has got a bushing where the lower pivot bolt went through. I can move the alternator back and forth but it still won't come off. In other words, it looks like the alternator is pivoting on the bushing instead of the pivot bolt.

This AutoZone page has a picture of the alternator for the Plymouth Breeze. It looks like a 2.4 engine in the pictures. The pictures are down near the bottom of the page. My engine is a 2.0.
http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us...rInfoPages.htm

Does anybody have any idea about how I can remove the bushing?

 

volitics,
knowing what you actually have is a huge help around here. especially since you have a sister car to ours. the trim levels are different. the 2.0 engine is similar (if not the same) as the one in the Neons. I have the 2.5v6, the 2.4i4 is the most common so it's used in almost all the auto parts stores reference pictures. the 2.0i4 is even more rare than the 2.5v6 in our cloud cars. I guess what i'm saying in a nutshell, since you have the 2.0i4, look for the alternator removal directions for a like-year Neon.

 

Just making a report. I finally at last got the alternator off.

It was not stuck like I thought in my last post. It was still rotating back and forth where the pivot bolt was. I thought that it had a bushing that went through the entire pivot bolt hole.

Instead, I just had to work it back and forth several times. I jiggled it and it came loose from the pivot bolt mounting.

I got the alternator sitting on my front porch. I called an alternator repair shop in this city. They are only about two or three miles from my home. They say that they can test the alternator. If it is not working they can rebuild it. The price is $65.00 for the rebuilding.

The alternator repair shop said that it will take about two hours to rebuild the alternator.

One last thing. About a week before the alternator light came on I smelled something burning. It smelled like brakes that had been overheated. I smelled the burned smell on two separate occasions. Now I am thinking that the burning smell was the alternator overheating.

I hope that this thread helps others with the same problem. Cheers.