My car just died on me today turns out its my alternator, fan belt and quite possibly my battery. Just wondering what price i'm looking at for a new alternator fitted and is my alarm meant to be going off when i'm disconnecting the battery?

My car just died on me today turns out its my alternator, fan belt and quite possibly my battery. Just wondering what price i'm looking at for a new alternator fitted

From what you say here, it's somewhat likely that you have a damaged/loose belt, is all.

I would, firstly, replace/tighten it & charge the battery (using a charger, seeing as the car evidently won't start). Then, start the car and use a multimeter to measure the voltage at the battery (while holding the engine to a couple of thousand RPM). If it's over 14v, you're all good :-)

If not, chances are damn good that it's only the regulator (or even it's brushes). Depending which regulator is fitted, replacing it yourself is pretty fast and painless, and should cost about $40-60.

Reconditioned alternators usually run to about $120 or so. Not sure about new ones.


and is my alarm meant to be going off when i'm disconnecting the battery?

Probably.

Cheers,
Mattt.

is my alarm meant to be going off when i'm disconnecting the battery?

When I got my alarm fitted I was told it is ok to unhook the car battery (for charging or replacement) as the alarm has a backup battery

When I got my alarm fitted I was told it is ok to unhook the car battery (for charging or replacement) as the alarm has a backup battery

new ones should have battery backup, old ones might not

may also be a tamper-proof thing, to stop ppl disconnecting ur battery to disable ur alarm. i know whenever we've had a battery running flat, sometimes the alarm goes off...probably same idea.

so yeah, totally fine on the alarm side of things :P

When I got my new alternator it cost $400 installed