I’ve bought several flashlights and not one of them has been worth a crap in the long run, even the one I paid a little extra for.
Yeah I think the “proper” way on this car is to jack it up, remove the wheel and come in through the wheel well. If that tool doesn’t work this is the last resort.
I tried to make sure my belt stayed on the other components, just didn’t keep good enough tension on it I guess when handling it.
You can make a reaching tool from a wire clothes hanger, doubled over for strength.
For belt problem, make sure the pulley’s are lining up in the same plane. Slightly different alternator mounting could cause alternator pulley to be offset or skewed from others.
The slip rings and brush surfaces look usable in your photos, but brushes appear worn short enough they should be replaced with new. I presume you are going to replace the brushes and bearings with a rebuild kit.
As for why it didn’t work, now it does w/ bench testing, I had the same problem with an older electric circular saw recently. Brushes stuck cockeyed in brush holder b/c of sawdust debris, motor wouldn’t work. Once the area cleaned of sawdust debris, brushes unstuck, now works fine. I expect your fiddling unstuck the brushes.
As for why it doesn’t work with donor alternator brushes and VR, I’d guess there’s a problem with donor voltage regulator. Symptoms are also consistent with rectifier (diode) problem.
Good for you for giving it the old college try. Take the necessary precautions to be safe though. Car must be on level solid surface, wear eye protection if around anything sparking or spinning, etc.
When you do the bench testing, presumably you spin the alternator with a drill, what are you doing for the F and L connections which in normal use connect to the PCM?
I already replaced the brushes with brand new ones from maniac electrical. I cleaned up the slip rings with some sand paper. The bearings weren’t perfect but they seemed more than usable in my opinion when spinning it.
I had the L pin connected to a bulb and from the other terminal on the bulb wired to the B+ post on the alternator. I wired the alt case to battery negative and ran battery positive directly to the B+ post. I didn’t have the F connected to anything. When I used the drill (full speed) I could feel the load on it, the light went out and it read about 14-14.1 v on the meter.
I don’t have much luck with flashlights either. I get a certain period of reliable use, but after that I usually have to jiggle them to get any light out, and the light will go out if I jiggle them again … lol …
I have two flashlights that seem to work pretty reliably.
One is an LED version I purchased at Walmart, good value, around $7, uses a 6 volt box-shaped battery. The other is also LED, uses 3 c-cells , Everbrite Defender brand. That one has 3 modes, bright, less bright, and flashing. Only problem with that one, the bright mode is a little too bright, usually use it in less-bright mode.
I’m not sure what the F connection does. I think the L is used for the alternator warning light. I’ve never attempted to bench-test an alternator. I’m following, you are leading the way! Good for you 
Field control, there is a wiring diagram in post # 53.
Is field control an pcm output, or pcm input?
As far as flashlights, the LED flashlights, often free with any purchase from HF, always work fine for me.
The tool finally arrived saturday. It ended up being useless. Today would be my third attempt at getting the belt back on and it seems to have been a success.
In the middle of frustration I took a breath and drove to the hardware store to pick up a board to wedge between the frame and crank pulley once I got the belt “kind of” on to make sure it doesn’t slide back off while I’m manipulating the belt elsewhere. It took me a really long time and a lot of frustration but I got it back on without jacking up the car.
I moved the belt by hand first to make sure all three pulleys were spinning and from what I could tell everything was lined up correct.
I put everything back together and tried to fill the radiator back up from the top hose where I had it disconnected from the engine because I was paranoid about air pockets. I checked the oil level then added fresh gas and gave it a spin. It started right up almost as if it was never sitting. It sounded a little rough but calmed down after warming up. It idled fine but seemed to be smoking a bit more than I remembered.
When I put it into reverse it didn’t move like I thought it would given my driveway and the grass it was parked in was on an incline. It seemed as if my brakes were a bit seized up. I pushed through it and took it for a drive around the block. When I let off the gas it continued rolling fine so maybe it was just from where it’s been sitting perhaps. No battery light and the alternator is putting out 14.66 volts. There is somewhat of a grinding feeling coming from the brakes which is weird because the pads were replaced probably a half year before it was sitting.
TL;DR It starts, runs, idles, drives and charges now. Slightly concerned about brakes though.
These work good holding serp belts on certain pulleys… I have a lot of them in different sizes…
Didn’t even think about that, I literally got one sitting next to my desk in a pen holder. I was out there with these lol
They work good on timing belts also…
RE: Brakes
Just a guess rotors are rusted and may have developed pits while parked. If the car has a firm pedal and stops okay, they are likely fine.
Try a couple of “hard” stops that will scrub the rust off. Get it up to good speed like 50 or so and when safe to do so, apply the brakes firm enough to stop quickly. Repeat that a few times and see if the rust noise is gone.
Of course it did. A year sitting isn’t long enough to cause any problems. Your brake noise is likely rust on the rotors. I’m guessing the noises will subside gradually over the next hundred miles or so.
For those here who constantly worry about gas going bad, here’s my personal anecdote:
We relocated from OR to WA early last year and lived in a rental house for 7 months. Meaning that all my lawn equipment has been sitting untouched since Sept 2021, no fuel additives or tanks drained. This weekend I had a chance to do some yardwork.
The lawnmower still had half a tank of gas. It started on the fifth pull and ran just fine. The edger was a little balky, probably 8 pulls, but who knows if I ever changed the spark plug in that. The blower, with its year and a half old 2-cycle mix, started on the 3rd try.
Had a guy rent space in my friends pole barn for his Harley over the winter.
Didn’t do anything to treat the fuel.
Come spring, the thing wouldn’t start.
Sprayed starting fluid in it it would run on the starting fluid and then die.
Drained the gas tank, filled it with fresh gas, took a while to get it to start, and when it did, ran perfect.
The owner now knew not to just put it away with whatever gas was in it.
I’ve seen this happen so many times with vehicles and E-10, that i always err on the side of caution.
Because, it can get expensive to get bad gas out of some vehicles so the vehicle can run again.
Tester
Just my experience but I had trouble with both my lawn mower and generator before I switched to non oxy gas with Briggs stabilizer. The main jet on the generator was so coated I almost needed to replace it. Finally got it cleaned. On my mower I had about one week of use before I had to put a new carb kit in it. The fiber fuel pump was shot and clogged jets. I ?ways use oem kits. After about five years of no problems, just did a carb kit as a matter of maintenance.
So in my experience it is not so much the gas going bad but the deposits it creates on very small orifices. So I pay premium prices for the off road and marine gas plus a little more for the stabilizer but that has been my experience. If you have a foot of snow in the driveway, that’s no time to try and deal with a clogged carb.
I was disappointed in Ray’s advice here:
Age, Not just Wear and Tear, Should Factor Into Replacing Parts - Car Talk
He doesn’t mention the gas.
Well I always considered them more entertainers than mechanics. Doesn’t mean they didn’t have worthwhile information but I wouldn’t discount contrary information.
Glad you got the s-belt installed and engine & car are both (more or less) running smoothly. Alternator , s-belt, seems you are close to good-to-go status. If car has been sitting for some time, you could have some tire issues, so keep an eye on those, keep to lower speeds for a while. If tires are over 8 years old, usual advice here is to replace w/new, rubber ages with time, not just miles. Tire blowouts on freeways, best to avoid.
I don’t own any cars with s-belts, so can’t offer much in the way of advice about how to make the install process any easier. I expect one advantage shops have with this sort of problem is they can put the car on their lift then work on it from the underside or topside at will.
I find working on drum brakes pretty frustrating, parts won’t stay put. The most recent experience, I decided if I had a bar clamp capable of 12 inches, that would be the cat’s meow. Problem is, my bar clamps max out at 8 inches. Had to buy a light bulb at a hardware store the other day, came home with a light bulb and 18 inch bar clamp … lol …