i wound up replaceing the alternator again just yesterday.. i was having issues with it not chargeing again. i talked with the tech. who has been fixing the car he said the alternators have to be oem to work.any one ever heard of that ? also the check engine light came on for the trans. range senser, any ideas where that might be?

 

I have had success by staying with the factory alternator. I've only had to do it once in 182,000, but I had tried an aftermarket one, and had much the same result. I also found that the quality of the pulley was not very good, leading to excessive belt wear. I ended up using an alternator rebuild shop and had my factory one rebuilt. worked like a charm. One thing to note, These cars are very sensitive to belt tightness. If you go too tight or too loose, the alternator will not work right. If you provide what year and engine size Protege you have, We can tell you how tight the belts should be.. Possibly the code is related to the faulty generator.

 

In reading the 2002 Protege manual, I see that it is equipped with a generator instead of an alternator. Anyone know why they started using generators again rather than alternators?[align=left] [/align]

 

Generators produce direct current -- similar to a battery, while alternators produce alternating current, similar to your house power supply. When used in a car, the alternator must have a diode rectifier (usually mounted inside the alternator) to convert this to direct current so it can be used to charge the battery.