Ok I just bought my samurai 2 weeks ago, and 1 week before I bought it the alternator and battery were replaced. Last night after work it wouldn't start and I had to push start it, and the headlights dimmed the whole way, and every time I put the clutch in the engine would die. I made it home luckily, but now it won't start at all. I'm assuming the alternator went bad, and I drained the battery on the way home. What could cause the alternator to go bad so quickly, but let it work fine for 3 weeks?

The previous owner said something about locating a drain on the 12volt line, and that may be still causing the problem. How would I find the drain and what would I have to do about it. I know of a few live wires with 12v running to them that are under the dash and not attached to anything, could that be it?

I always suspect the new alternator, most
rebuilt altenators are junk.

I replaced my rebuilt alternator 5 times in less
time thank the stock one lasted once. I swear
I changed it so many times I finaly got myy stock
one back, it's been good for 3 or 4 years now.

Also when you are replacing the Sammy Alt.
get a SideKick replacement instead, swap the
pullies and install it. All of the rebuilt alternators
I got were older Samauri types and never lasted,
finaly I got a SideKick one, and  didn't have to swap
the pully, it's been the one that lasted so long

Wild

Should I bother pulling the alternator out of my tracker? It is unfortunetly no longer at my house, sitting 40 miles away waiting for its engine to get pulled for the swap. How can I test for a drain that will kill the new alternator? Battery is dead, but I got it started and the choke kept it alive until I turned the headlights on, then it died instantly.

Oh and one of the drivebelts is running along the side of the plastic valve cover or whatever you call it, cover over the water pump and stuff. It is scuffing the plastic up and probably not good on the belt at all. I'm going to go out and adjust the tension on the book to what the haynes manual tells me, maybe that will help. I tested it just now though, no power coming off the alternator at all from the top connection, whatever that goes to and the belt was running it (kind of wobbily though).

The alt was bad, and advance auto gave me a new one right away for free no questions (or recepits!) asked. Brackets differ a bit but I should be able to get it in there with a little filing. I hope that is problem solved.