So there I was, minding my own business at a light and I start to hear the chirpity chirp chirp of something rotationally failing just behind my right shoulder, thus inside the engine cover where the accessories are.
I play with the throttle a bit to see how it responds and it's chirpity/clanky goodness changes a little and then stops. Didn't notice anything else at the time (Foreshadowing).
Drove on thinking, "Ok, tensioner/idler pulley inspection coming up very soon."
Forward a few days and I get out in the car at work and now it's chirpity/squall and extra clues in that I have a cell phone on the dash running Torque and I see the
alternator
output drop to zip and back to ~13-14v while the squealing comes and goes.
No problem since it's only a ten minute drive home so I figure I'll get it home and swap cars for now.
I'm thinking, "How is a squealing tensioner/idler causing the
alternator
to not charge yet the power steering is still working...?"
Get the cover off today expecting to see partially shredded belt but everything looks normal. I start spinning wheels and all seem fine till I grab the
alternator
pulley, thinking I'll just give it a spin to assess the bearing situation and bingo, pulley spins in both direction loose from the shaft.
"Broken Woodruff Key?" I'm thinking but in the back of my mind it's odd that the pulley spins so freely. "Just replace the key if the shaft and pulley are not lunched?"
Not so fast... Special German engineering coming up....
Sure enough, the Internet provides and I find out about the special sprag clutch action of the Manual Cayman
alternator
pulley, and oh joy more special removal tools!
So there's a pulley and belt incoming from
Rock Auto
, a pulley removal tool from
Amazon
and I'm happy it's not total
alternator
replacement.
2007 base with 110K.
I have a parts stash awaiting on deep winter when I'll be redoing all four corners brakes,rotors,pads. Planning on a water pump and I know I need a few new bushings, motor mounts will get the hairy eyeball so those are on the list too.
I've been awaiting the "I'm over 100k and want some attention" thing so here we are.
The saga continues:
Got the tool in... Decent enough quality it appears.
Got the pulley and belt in... went to remove the old pulley... Stripped out the T-50 inside of the
alternator
shaft.
Got the wrenches on it and it slipped and I thought, "Oh crap, that crappy T-50 rounded itself."
Nope... Pulled it out and it looked fine. I'm pretty sure I had it fully seated but don't do like me and omit perhaps giving it a few tappy tap taps with a hammer to fully seat it in the end of the shaft.
Apparently the tool was decent enough quality that it rounded the inside of the shaft due to my not taking the above precaution. Who's to say if it would have made a difference but it's possible.
New (reman)
alternator
inbound from
Rock Auto
. Pulley and belt being returned.
A new belt because... pay attention to the listings... There's a "With AC" and a "W/O AC" option. I didn't pay attention to that because I didn't figure any cars came without and ordered the wrong one.
Read and heed.
Hey
@Stones
, that's some great detective work tracking down that "chirpity chirp" all the way to the alternator sprag clutch! It’s wild how that pulley just spins freely in both directions when it fails. When your special removal tool from Amazon arrives, could you share how the replacement process goes? I'm sure others who run into this would find it super helpful.
