Giovanni@1

My observations on the new alternator install is 14.8 volts at start up. It will settle down after a few minutes or less to 14.6 and decrease to about 14.3. After some time to 14.3 to just above 14 volts. From what I’ve been reading this is just about normal. My battery is about 1 year old NAPA Gold—not AGM by PO. This is with heavy AC, etc. Does this sound about right? RE: 2005 C6 base coupe. Thanks John

AgainstTheWind

if you have 14 with the AC running full you should be good to go.

I’m about to grab one of these as well. When I run my ac on full here in Arizona my volts drop from 14 to 12 and even below, winds up killing my battery.


w/o ac running I’m between 13.8 - 14.2 with no issues. It was recommended to me to run a Mechman 6 pole and I should be good to go

Giovanni@1

I’m happy so far with the alternator, but had a problem shortly after installation. I had driven car all day with no issues. The next day I lost sound from all factory speakers Bose. This is with a Pioneer NEX 1500 head. The FM radio shows it playing with no sound. Guidance no sound via Apple play. This is either coincidence or somehow related to my installation of the alternator. For a few brief moments the next day the sound reappeared? I checked 30 amp fuse in main fuse box with ohm meter as well as the 15 amp inside radio fuse—ok. The only thing I could come up with is the Bose amplifier is shot. The system was installed at Best Buy’s by PO and worked flawlessly up until now. John

wayback

Had my 170A for years. Usually stays at 14.6 V on my 07. Never any problems.

drewz06

yep, my mech 170 was over 14v all the time....

didn't have any trouble for the year after install with my factory 3lz stereo and a pioneer nex headunit....

random chance sucks sometimes

njedwardz

Advice from personal experience: if you live in a hot and humid climate and run longtube headers, and especially if you run upgraded cooling or more aggressive fan curves, you should strongly consider going with larger than the 170A unit. I recently had an awesome experience dealing with Richard at MechMan who guided me to exactly the solution that I needed. I ended up with a 250A large-case unit (perfect fitment for my 2013) that makes 210 A at idle and 280 A at 1800 RPM.

For reference, my car with the D3PE dual fan setup, Setrab trans cooler fanpack, AC at full blast, headlamps and fog lights on will demand 120+ A at idle on a 95 °F day in south Louisiana. This is in excess of what the 170 A units can reliably deliver once heat soaked - no fault of MechMan's, but something to be aware of if you have a highly modified car in the south like I do.

Also, it's a great idea to add a dedicated ground path from the alternator mounting bolts to the block, and then from the block to the battery. The aluminum mounting brackets do have a tendency to oxidize with age and galvanic corrosion due to electron flow, and this oxide layer is very non-conductive. While you're at it, may as well do an entire big 4 wiring upgrade.