Not at all, not on this car it's not. It's a 3 hours labor to replace the alternator, a bunch of things have to come out to get it off and it's in a very awkward position, very difficult to line up. The pulley is super easy to replace though - take off the belt and unscrew the bolt, 30 minutes tops
No, he's just a parts changer, you're giving him too much benefit of the doubt. Had he been a real mechanic who did a proper diagnosis instead of throwing parts at a vehicles, I could guarantee you he'd have found that to.
Nice find Alex! My daughter had a older car and the Harmonic Balancer rubber was bad and made the engine run real bad almost like it had a knock. luckily I checked it out as a 'mechanic' told her the engine was going bad, not worth fixing.
Good find. I can see how this was missed initially by the other mechanic, but he clearly should have re accessed after the job was done and it was still squealing, maybe it was putting out some voltage so he thought it was good, but the squealing is a job not finished
Actually I think their alternator actually was bad and it needed to be replaced. It's just they didn't install the new one properly - the belt wasn't routed correctly and the crank pulley is not actually driving the belt as the result. Obviously the pulley is also bad, but it would still drive the alternator if the belt was installed properly. Also, the oil leak is what likely caused the pulley to go bad, so that should also be fixed to prevent the next pulley from failing.
@@AlexTheCarDoctor if the belt was installed correctly to begin with and the alternator was fine then the customer would not likely have an issue to complain about to begin with. A failing harmonic balancer would still drive the alternator until the outer ring completely falls off. They would usually hear some loud knocking before that happens too
I've been doing mechanic work for a very long time back in the days and never really ran into the balancer like that it was always either alternative belts or even battery but I never really ran into a pulley like that make sense😊
Actually I think their alternator actually was bad and it needed to be replaced. It's just they didn't install the new one properly - the belt wasn't routed correctly and the crank pulley is not actually driving the belt as the result. Obviously the pulley is also bad, but it would still drive the alternator if the belt was installed properly. Also, the oil leak is what likely caused the pulley to go bad, so that should also be fixed to prevent the next pulley from failing.
Great diag! I wonder why if the other shop swapped alternators and found it still not working and also still making noise, did not do a little more exploring! Alex, your the man!
@@AlexTheCarDoctor I am sure you have gained another long time customer now! Hard to find people like you and your wife that care (and know what they are doing!)
I've never seen a belt just touch a pulley on its way to another. Was that belt placed properly? There's probably less than an inch of surface to surface contact
Yep, these Enclaves are a pain in the rear to replace alternators on. I'm a mechanic and I know from experience that these are no fun. Pretty sure the original alternator needed replacing. They just didn't install the belt correctly afterwards, hence it didn't work.
It's funny Buick has harmonic balancers after all these years. Atleast in the 80's and 90's people thought the engine was knocking (while still charging) when the rubber wore out. Now it seems like the balancer may completely separate. Come on GM.....DAMN!!!
See this is what you get dealing with those part swap mechanics. You lose money on unnecessary stuff. Now, Alex has to fix it. The customer has to now pay 2x the cost. Bread to Alex and to the crappy mechanic 😢
I have a 2020 Chevrolet Blazer 3.6L V6 FWD which died out while driving and won’t start again. Every time you try to start it it blows the 350amp fuse on top of the battery box. I’ve replace the starter with a brand new GM starter. New battery and fuse and still having the same issue.
