I had to replace my alternator today. For several months I was hearing an RPM related "whirling" noise which made it sound like I was supercharged. Would have been a cool sound IF I had a supercharger. Since I didn't have one, not cool.

I have been monitoring my voltage with a small cigarette lighter plug voltage display. It had been reading in the 13's for a while. Last night however, shortly after leaving for work, I hear a ding and then see the battery light display on the dash. I immediately look at the voltage display and it shows 11.9v. Luckily my drive to work is short and I made it there with no issues.

After work, I drove immediately to the parts store and waited for them to open. Picked up a remanufactured alternator and made it back home on the failing one. Voltage got all the way down to 10.9v. Raised the hood as soon as I got home to let it start cooling and immediately saw smoke coming up from the alternator.

Swapped them out in about an hour and a half without having to remove the fan shroud. It wasn’t easy, but manageable. I did not want to have to disconnect the radiator hose and leak that mess all over my driveway just to do all this.

New alternator is up and running fine at 13.1v. No more “whirling” sound either.

 

Mine crapped out this am. Car was "whirling" on starts last 2-3 years with around 13.5-13.8V as I have an ECU tuner, Bully Dog, with parameter display off the OBDII. At idle a large ticking sound. Before replacement I noticed mileage less 3-4MPG, kind of bugged me and added fuel injection cleaners, Seafoam, etc. over last couple years...
After replacement, no more whirling or ticking sound. and my mileage went up 3-4 MPG.... also did an engine cooling flush.
The alternator has a significant impact on mileage especially in city driving.

Lineup:
08' Audi A6 - original owner - family
08' Chrysler Aspen - original owner - my daily

 

Wow, looks like that one had a serious drag. Glad it's working better now.

 

Looks like we are on similar schedules.. my alternator died on Saturday. Was on a road trip 200 miles from home, when the dash battery indicator went off. I got a quick test at autozone and confirmed it was the alternator, not the battery. At 4p on a Saturday I found a miracle of a shop that sourced a remanufactured alternator, and installed it by 6p. Saved my weekend. My 2008 5.7 Aspen has 175K miles. Guess this is the end of the line for these alternators.

 

I swapped mine at 124K but had been hearing the wine for a while. I also noticed just before it went out that I had some insulation on top of the motor (did an oil change the day before it went out). Looks like a mouse got in there and had been pulling some from the firewall. I'm guessing he probably got on top of the alternator as well and did some business which didn't help it last. Glad you found someone to install it for you. It was not fun personally.

I have since then added a small voltage gauge to my dash (pics below). Found one on Amazon that is about 1.14" tall by 2.2" wide and fits just perfect under the odometer. Simple 2 wire install. Only issue I had was it was very bright. Others complained about this as well. I just added some 5% window tint on the front and that solved that. If you are interested, this is it, . Only $13 for the gauge. *Note mine did not include the double sided tape but I keep this at home anyway. Hopefully you have some extra tint laying around or can find someone to give you a small piece so you don't have to buy a whole expensive $20 roll like I did.

Original light:


With one layer of window tint: