Son's alternator packed it in last week. Just a heads up to make it a little easier. Most of the time it's just the voltage regulator. You can do a quick check with it on the car. Disconnect the the power wire on the alternator and remove the other 2 pin connector. Now you can use your multimeter set to ohms. First put the red lead on the power post on the alternator and the black on the alternator case. Then reverse the leads. In one direction you should get around 500 ohms and in the other your should see a very high out of range reading. This confirms the diodes are good. If both readings are high or both low, the diodes have failed and you have to remove the alternator. If the diodes are good, you can just replace the $50 voltage regulator.
In my case I pulled the alternator, because it was so easy on the E85. For the heck of it I took it to Autozone to check and verify. They put it on their tester and said everything was bad, diodes, stator and voltage regulator. Wee, obviously they were full of crap. Nothing wrong with the windings and diodes. So I replace the voltage regulator and thought I should get it checked to verify the new part is good. So I took it to Advance Auto parts and they dicked around for 15 minutes and said they didn't have the right connectors to test it. Another waste of time. So I put the alternator back on the car and it's working perfectly.
As I said , test it on the car and just replace the voltage regulator while still on the car to save a lot of time. If you do pull the alternator the only trick to getting it back on is the tensioner. Because of the top radiator hose there is not enough room for a long handed wrench to turn the necessary distance. My work around is to use a 3/8" socket wrench, with a handle short enough to travel under the radiator hose. When I turn it past the radiator hose I slip a pipe over the wrench to give me the leverage needed. Note pipe should be short enough to fit down into the air intake filter area.
In my case I pulled the alternator, because it was so easy on the E85. For the heck of it I took it to Autozone to check and verify. They put it on their tester and said everything was bad, diodes, stator and voltage regulator. Wee, obviously they were full of crap. Nothing wrong with the windings and diodes. So I replace the voltage regulator and thought I should get it checked to verify the new part is good. So I took it to Advance Auto parts and they dicked around for 15 minutes and said they didn't have the right connectors to test it. Another waste of time. So I put the alternator back on the car and it's working perfectly.
As I said , test it on the car and just replace the voltage regulator while still on the car to save a lot of time. If you do pull the alternator the only trick to getting it back on is the tensioner. Because of the top radiator hose there is not enough room for a long handed wrench to turn the necessary distance. My work around is to use a 3/8" socket wrench, with a handle short enough to travel under the radiator hose. When I turn it past the radiator hose I slip a pipe over the wrench to give me the leverage needed. Note pipe should be short enough to fit down into the air intake filter area.