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HELP Alternator amperage??

H

haines1100

New member
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Hi everyone, I need to purchase a new alternator for my 1982 245 DL. Theres always two choices: 55 amp or 70 amp. I'm assuming 55 would be without power windows and such. My car has manual everything.. but it does have a/c and heat. Any input? the 55 is almost half the price, so I'm hoping thats it. The part number is rubbed off from the broken alternator. Thank you!! :)
 
Do you have a photo of the alternator it's replacing?

What established that the old alternator is bad? Often you can get away with just replacing the voltage regulator assembly (or even just the brushes) - basically rebuilding it yourself, pretty easy. Alternators are very simple things.

A/C and heat are not electrically powered. Biggest drains are probably headlights, radio, taillights. Fogs if you have them. Personally I'd get the bigger alternator out of principle but if the car was originally spec'd for a 55A alternator and you haven't installed some kind of bitchin' sound system it should work fine.
 
Khrrck said:
Do you have a photo of the alternator it's replacing?

What established that the old alternator is bad? Often you can get away with just replacing the voltage regulator assembly (or even just the brushes) - basically rebuilding it yourself, pretty easy. Alternators are very simple things.

A/C and heat are not electrically powered. Biggest drains are probably headlights, radio, taillights. Fogs if you have them. Personally I'd get the bigger alternator out of principle but if the car was originally spec'd for a 55A alternator and you haven't installed some kind of bitchin' sound system it should work fine.
Click to expand...

fan
 
I don't have a photo. I have to have the car fixed by friday, so I don't have time to experiment with regulators and brushes. The car is in Alabama and I'm in NJ right now
 
I always go for the highest amp bolt on alternator for all my cars.

50 amp will probably be fine, but I'd get the 70 amp just because.
 
Khrrck said:
mine doesn't have one, did the 1982 model have an AC fan?
Click to expand...

It has one to blow the cool air around your cabin. But they all do. I wish I could tell you for darn certain there aren't any differences you'll encounter whether you choose a 55, 70, or 80, but I think perhaps the pulley sizes were not all alike. Biggest question in my mind, were I to BUY an alternator, is whether the re-builder did a decent job. Those you can get over the counter at AdvanceZoneO'ReillyPepBoys with the "lifetime" guarantee have generated a lot of dissatisfaction.
 
I think we all try to forget that fan haha. Well I'm pulling it off tonight hopefully I can get some info off. I got my s60s alternator from autozone, it's been about a year and a half without issue and it's got a sub. If I can't figure it out by looking at it I'll most likely buy the 70
 
In case anyone has this problem in the future: I pulled the alternator and scraped a bunch of gunk off it and found its a 70 amp. Don't know if that's what was originally on there, but thats been on there and it's been working so thats what I'm getting. Thanks for the help everyone.
 
OP be sure that the ground lead from the alternator to the engine is in good shape.
The alternator will not produce amps without a path to ground.
 
I had it tested to be sure it was bad and it was, but I'll be sure to double check that when reinstalling it. Thanks
 
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