OK, so today my 96 passport decided to light up the BATT, BRAKE, and 4WD dash lights all at once. The volt meter is steady at ~10 volts. I've checked the brake fluid, cleaned the battery terminals, even traced down to as many ground locations as I can find. They were all solid. All connections to the alternator seem to be solid.

I can see the BRAKE or FWD light go ever so slightly brighter and dimmer as I move the e-brake up and down or move int into 4WD. I did the whole cleaning and tightening thing like three times and after each time it was the same lights on, no change.

It sounds like the alternator bit the dust. Is there a way to tell without driving it autozone? Its quite far for me to get there form home. How far can I drive it before the battery dies? Its an optima red top btw...

yes sounds like it. but first check basic components in the charging system -- i.e. battery clamps, and especially grounds and don't forget the belt adjustment.

and remember an isuzu alternator can pass the tests at such places as autozone and still not be in working order.

standard boilerplate language concerning isuzu replacement alternators: "heed the advice in this and other forums. do not replace your isuzu alternator with a rebuilt unit from the bigboxpartsstores. they apparently do not test for nor correct special circuits within the alternator. even if the unit initially works, it will probably crap out and your lifetime warranty means a lifetime of replacing it over your lifetime. instead replace with a quality unit, i.e. new from dealer, rebuilt from dealer, rebuilt by bosch,(my favorinte for price/quality ratio) and i've seen posts by those who are happy with the rebuilds from NAPA."

//bc

not sure about the 4wd light but those are lights that come on when the alternator dies

While you can put a multi-meter on the alt to see what voltage it is putting out, your dash gauge is close enough. 10volts is well below the 14-ish it is supposed to be churning out. Plus, the rest of your signs, your alt is dead.

As for how long to drive on battery power, you have a while. But...you don't know how long that alt has been working on not fully charging the battery. You get a bit more leeway with the deep cycle battery, but it is still not a great idea to kill the battery. I got 6 hours out of my batts, with headlights on, last weekend when my alt died, but I have two and it is not an Isuzu. It also died in the driveway when I got home.

Another option is for you to find someone to rebuild your alt. Just look in the yellow pages for alt repair, auto electrical places ect. They fixed me up this week for ~$100. Not bad compared to the other options.

Good Luck,
Michael

So I'll be heading to the pullapart tomorrow to try and get a used one. Its not a permanent solution but its cheap. I seem to have been getting pretty lucky there with parts.

What other models is the alternator the same? Anything with the 3.2 v6 sohc right? Will the trooper v6 alternator fit too?

i don't know the compatibility for different models/years.
but. . .remember you are also matching up the belt pulley, otherwise it can be a pain to change out, without ruining the pulley.

[btw, it would help if you would post your model year engine trans etc in your post, not just in the profile. it makes it easier. a good place, as you've probably seen with other posts, is as part of your signature so you don't have to add it each time you post. you can do this in the My Home area, iirc]

I guess I'm sort of the resident expert on Alternator Replacements for the 1996-97 model Rodeo... I'm on my 8th or 9th one (I've honestly lost track).

I just dug-up this old post of mine the other day, for someone else...



The reason I've had to replace mine so many times is that a lot of the reman alternators simply stink (as Michael already indicated above). --- In my case, I've lost most of them very shortly after driving through mud - but a couple of them failed without any mud involved, while I was driving on pavement. --- Either way, the 'Battery', 'Brake', and '4WD' lights all lit-up, marking the death of each-and-every-one of them; even when the Volt Meter wasn't indicating a loss of juice (yet).

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that your alternator is toast.




Stick with the 1996-97 Rodeo/Passport as a source for a used alternator -- The pin count and overall configuration on the pig tail is unique to the Gen 1.5 (Sorry!)

HTH


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Thanks Smiley, that thread was a long read, I learned a lot. Sadly, I was not able to replicate your results with pulling a wee bit on the brake handle. Glad to see it worked out for you in the end though.

Another question: Whats the difference between the 3 wire and 4 wire alternators? Besides one wire <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I am wondering if I can get a alternator + 3-plug harness from the salvage yard and kill 2 birds with one stone. I have a feeling the 4th wire is the one they use to improve fuel economy to switch the alternator on/off. I'm hoping I can cap/terminate that control wire and just keep the alt charging all the time, screw the EPA

I can get a pigtail from the salvage yard along with a 3-pin alternator from a 95 rodeo for ~15 bucks. It may be worth a shot.

P.S. I'm an EE for what thats worth, I just need to know the pinouts of the two different kinds of alts.