Alternator Upgrade Completed

I recently upgraded a 2000 civilian crown vic from a 4g civilian alternator to a 6g police unit.

The swap added some additional charging ability (110 amps vs 130 amps). But was mainly done because the voltage regulator in the original 4g unit had failed and was no longer charging the battery. And I had a spare 6g police alternator avaliable, but didn't have any 4g crown vic alternators at the moment.

Since the 6g alternator was factory installed in our cars, all of the necessary brackets and wiring are avaliable from either your local ford dealer or the local salvage yard.


The "new" 6g alternator is on the left, the old broken 4g alternator is on the right



here's a top view of the alternators. notice the different regulator connector and the different orientation of the output stud



here's the regulator wiring pigtail to splice onto the civilian vehicles harness so that a police unit can be installed





here's the factory civilian charging harness. for my purposes, i'll cut off the civvy regulator plug and splice on the police one. the output stud wire has a little different contour to it near the terminal, but can be bent into shape with my bare hands



here's the support brackets for the alternator. the one on the left is the police 6g unit, the one on the right is the civilian 4g





here's the police alternator mounted on the civvy engine block



and here's a picture of the two regulator plugs side by side



and here's a police interceptor with a factory installed 6g alternator for reference

Thanks 2v!

I have a 2002 Crown Victoria LX, how would I know what I have currently installed on my car? Should I assume that it is also the "4g" unit?

Is there any benefit to a civilian car, when going to a higher amp unit? I don't have anything crazy installed. I have all the factory options installed on the car, plus I also have a trailer hitch, and an aftermarket amp (which I've concealed behind the spare tire).

Does the beauty cover still fit properly?


Thanks!!!

That is one high performance alternator!

Bear in mind that Matt could straighten an alloy wheel with his bare hands...

Nice writeup, Matt... Now put a post in the BOK!

I am considering upgrading my alt in my CVPI. Anybody hear anything about This Place

I am looking at getting this alt for my car... Here are the specs



Any input....

I downgraded the Alternator to a Civy on a 1994 P71, same idea but even easier as no support bracket to worry about.

American Armature looks like the solution for some folks. If bat voltage is dropping at idle time to upgrade. My requirements went down when I got rid of elect fan and the 95amp civy can handle my basic sound system.

http://www.alternatorparts.com/Crown_Victoria_Alternators.htm

I used this. I got the 200 HO unit.

Very good quality, all new.

i can carry a crown vic transmission up a flight of stairs with my bare hands. haven't tried straightening an alloy wheel yet though.

Excuse my noob-ness questions, but.
- What is the difference between the civi bracket and the CVPI bracket?

- Would it be possible to snag a CVPI alty from the bone yard and just grab the wiring harenss & bracket? I'm assuming you had to get a new wire a new alternator plug on to your existing wiring.

Last Question (sorta related)
- I plan on replacing the serpentine belt soon, with the removal of the alternator, could I get the old belt off and the new belt on without having to loosen the tensioner?

the brackets are a different length between the civi and police cruisers.

when shopping for these brackets, keep in mind that the brackets for crown vics with the aluminum crossover intake manifold are different than the brackets for crown vics with the plastic x-over coolant passage.



Yes, you could grab the alternator, harness plug and bracket from a wrecked police cruiser in a salvage yard. But do keep in mind that the regulator harness plug plastic often gets brittle from the engine heat attacking it over the years. But also keep in mind that the harness pigtail pictured above costs close to $30 at your local ford dealer.




The tensioner in our cars is really easy to loosen tension on. Just stick a 3/8" or 1/2" breaker bar in the hole and twist. And you don't have to completly remove the serpentine belt from the engine to replace the alternator either.



picture of civvy upper alternator bracket next to police upper bracket

I should add that the 2000 crown vic lx mentioned in this thread has the digital dash option. So there wasn't a voltage guage inside the car like on the analog cluster. And the regulator inside the alternator also failed in such a way that the charge fault indicator light on the dashboard did NOT illuminate even though battery voltage was so low that the electronic ignition system wasn't functioning properly.

When I'm sitting at an intersection, obviously foot on brake & turn signal on, my AC fan speeds up & slows down with each blink of the turn signal. Would changing to a higher rated alternator solve this problem?

TS-pa,

do you have underdrive pulleys??

could it be possibkle to add the new 07 200 amp alternators on my 03 cvpi? wihtout to much modifacation ?

Speaking of alt swaps...can a 2000 CVPI alt be installed in a 92 CV without modification? If mods are needed...what would they be? I have a 2000 CVPI parts car with working alt. The 92 CV's alt is going abd needs to be changed soon. Thanks.

Nope.

I found a reputable auto electric shop here in Las Cruces. The owner will build me a new alternator with an amp-rating of somewhere above the 130a on my existing faulty unit. 175 would be nice... I have had no problems with other Vatozone alternators on my other vehicles. There doesn't appear to be any fault with the car.

Results...The local shop found that Vatozone had left a junky rectifier in the "remanufactured" alternator. It cost me $75 out the door, but now I have a new rectifier and a solid 150 amp output. I was just too lazy to screw around taking it apart and repairing it myself. The webiste that sells the 240 amp unit wanted $480 for it. I don't think so.

Hey Bud,

The tensioner is easy to loosen, Just use a breaker bar, the tensioner has a square hole in it for the breaker bar. It is easy... I promise.

If your car runs fine with the alt in it, I would just stick with that unless you're planning on putting in a bunch of accessories like lights, amplifier, and etc.

To the guy on the first page the 92 alt is totally different.

the civilian engine computers for our cars have a really low commanded idle speed (often 500-600 RPM). you might try boosting idle rpm up to somewhere in the 800 - 1000 rpm to increase charging ability.

also look at what pulley pulley you have on the alternator. a smaller pulley makes the alternator spin faster per given crankshaft rotation. but the smaller pulley will also slip more during big crankshaft rotation speed transistions and also more when driving in wet weather.

do you have the 6 groove or 7 groove accessory drive system on your 1992 crownvic?

the alternators in the 2002 & earlier crown vics use a conventional voltage sense regulator to control alternator charging. the rest of your crown vic's powertrain management system effectively does not know which alternator model you have installed in your car.

the alternators in 2003 & later crown vics are pcm controlled. the pcm communicates with the alternator regulator via a databus. and your pcm calibration must be compatible with your particular alternator model.

the alternator support bracket on the 1998 & later crown vics appears to be a factory installed crash bracket to improve the integrity of the passenger compartment during a frontal collision.

starting in 1998, a crash bracket of similar thickness was also installed on the rear of the engine to help prevent the fuel rail from banging against the firewall and wiper cowl during a frontal collision.

on the 1997 & earlier crownvics, the bracket near the alternator supports the spark plug wires. but 1998+ crown vics, use a coil on plug ignition system and don't have any high voltage spark plug wires to support. so the bracket has been redesigned to help prevent passenger injury during a high energy frontal collision.

So as were talking alternators, my 2000 mercury grand marquis is barely starting, like dead battery, but have a new optima in it. I drove it to work today (30 Mins) and when I went to restart it at the gas station, it didn't seem like the battery was charging. So, that would mean my alternator is not working? but how am I able to drive? Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks, Bryan

Ok, i just did this upgrade on my car today. I needed to do it cause of my stereo system. I did notice one thing though. The factory harness on my car(2000 crown vic lx) only has 2 wires and the aftermarket pigtail comes with 3 wires. Do we use all 3 wires or just two? I only used the two outter wires. any pics of which wire goes connected where?

well, at 125K+ the alt light has started flickering (digital dash, no gauge). I actually pulled this thread up in a google search as I was trying to find info on an alternator I just got from an Ebay seller. Looks like I have a 'take off' (barely used) American Armature 240AMP alternator. I only expected an almost new OEM 135AMP alt, but was shocked to see this might be the 'big daddy' that costs hundreds of bucks when I looked over what came out of the box! LOL... This will be nice, as my underdrives will now be driving a beast of an alternator! If this works out, I got if for about $115 shipped, a heck of a deal I was not even expecting! Got to try it out tomorrow... Thanks to 2V for helping pick it out (we both had no idea it was not stock) off of eBay...

And yes, if anyone could bend a car rim with their bare hands, that would be 2Vmodular.

Can either of these crash brackets be retrofitted to a 97 or older? Not that I have one, I'm just wondering because that is a really cool improvement no matter how well it actually works.

And about the alternator: Does the pigtail have to be soldered on or can it be crimped? I don't know how to solder and I figure I wouldn't be able to do it well with my crappy fine motor skills.

I'd solder, that would provide a lesser resistance than using a crimp connection.

Up to 2002 only the two outer wires were used on the regulator plug. That plug probably has 3 wires because it is also compatible with the 2003 alternator, which used 3 wires because starting in 2003, the voltage regulator was removed from inside of the alternator and placed inside of the engine computer.

Hi all.Can get some info on splicing the new pig tail in. color to what line on new piggy. I have an 04 Lx got a 200 amp 6g alt.