nah, my alternator cost me 130. It wasnt from autozone.

AFAIK we can use the cheaper civilian alternators unless you really need it for all the whack, uh, I mean legitimate law enforcement equipment.

UPDATES........
so today i had the alternator replaced once again cause the alternator was not holding a charge. it was marking very low on my battery gauge. So alternator was swaped twice and battery was checked at autozone and charged. Happens that the same issue still accours. It's marking very low on my battery gauge. It doesnt even move when I accelarate. it's right inbetween half and low and i dont think thats normal. I'm also getting engine noise now through my speakers.can the battery be bad? I mean, how are two alternator going to be bad? this is really starting to bother me. I even replaced the battery terminals just to make sure. please help guys.

Wow, it sounds like a wiring issue. Your Batt light is off right? That would be the main concern. Also when you crank the car to start, Does it crank normal or slow?

car cranks normal. theres no battery light. I get no dimming in lights.

you said it sounds like a wireing issue but, wires hasnt been touched. and if it was a wireing issue why would it happen now? the 1st alternator that started the problem with the loud whinning and burning smell was on my car for about 6-8 months.

ok, so this morning i turned on the car and the battery gauge seemed normal. it was just a bit over half where its suppose to be. But i still think the gauge suppose to move when accelarating, wouldnt it? anyways, when driveing around the city the gauge didnt move for nothing. Once I hit the highway and stpped on the gas to pass a truck, i noticed that the gauge dropped dramatically. now its back to the same [censored]. I dont really understand whats the problem. here are some pics.

this is after the highway run stopped at a red light


this is running at 35mph


this is on park.


no matter if im in parked or pumping my big ass system or running at high speed, the gauge just dont move. I dont think its normal especially being that low. the only time the gauge does move is when hitting the window switches. Now i do want to bring up that the alternator that i'm useing is for a p71. I have the 2000 hpp and being that i upgraded my system a while back i deceided to swap out the alternator for a better one. I did the whole plug swap and everything. Now that was done about 6 months ago or mayb more.

well it is still in the normal range.

when the car is cold it will charge more at a higher voltage. Then once the car warms up the votage will drop which is why you are seeing the fluctuation in the needle.

For instance with my scangauge when I first start my car in teh morning my charging votages are between 13.8-14.4. Once my car warms up to operating temp the voltage drops to between 13.2-13.6. Now if it is really damn hot out my voltages have even been between 12.6-13.2.


As for the whining noise it sounds to me like you might need to check all your grounds (there are a few throughout the car). clean them and make sure they are snug against their mounting location with no debris/dirt/or paint between the metals on the car and the connectors.

I had that whine problem in my 01. Turns out I re-did the ground leads in the trunk (one on each side from the hindge to the body) once I re-did those the whine has completely gone away.

but the whinning just started happening after replaceing the alternator. With the bad alternator there was a loud whinning but it wasnt herd through the speakers. now theres "engine noise" herd from the speakers. For me it's not normal to see the battery gauge that low. It was happeneing before. This just started happening. Mayb there giveing me the wrong alternator. I did tell them i needed a alternator with the police package. would some one have pictures of an civilian and p71 alternator.

they are going to look the same.

the heavy duty alt (depending on year) should be a 130amp unit. The civy is like 80-90 amp IIRC.

so they look the same? how about where the pigtail connects?

i mean, would a civilian and a police alternator plug right in with the same pigtail?

depends on year I think..

i remember seeing a thread on the alternator swap before. I cant seem to find it. Some one did a swap from a civilian to a police alternator and had to replace the pigtail. Anyone remember the thread?