What a Sunday nite I had...Battery not charging light came on so I pulled into a local restaurant and called a wrecker . When the rollback arrived I drove the car about 100 feet so he could connect my car to the cable...the alternator bearings started squealing and smoke came from the serpentine belt. OK....brought the car home about 9PM...when it arrived, battery was totally dead...alternator shorted out....battery ruined as well...and had to do a search to find out how to get my car out of PARK so I could get off the rollback. REMOVE THE TORX SCREW NEXT TO THE SHIFTER AND THEN INSERT SMALL SCREWDRIVER TO RELEASE SHIFTER. Ordered new Denso alternator, battery and serpentine belt.

IF YOU KNOW YOU HAVE AN ALTERNATOR ISSUE, REMOVE THE GROUND STRAP ON THE BATTERY BEFORE IT RUINS THE BATTERY.

Just replaced the alternator on my 1998 XJ-8...a bit of a PIA. First disconnect the ground strap on the battery.Then, jack up the right front, install safety jack stands under the frame, and remove right front wheel, then remove the bottom three fasteners on the wheel well cover and gently fold the cover up and out of the way. Then you can get to the alternator pretty well. After removing the alternator, you will need to press the rear bushing on the mount back a bit to make room for the new alternator. Yours might bet OK, but it was a tight fit on mine, so I inserted a bolt with a large socket and tightened the bolt enough to pull the bushing back a little. The only problem I am having is that the Battery Not Charging Light is still on the dash, even after verifying that I have 14. 4 volts charging at the battery. This is an issue pertaining to the plug on the rear of the alternator. I will report back after I solve this.

 

Having a problem with my alternator, lights flickering, now the engine is turning off. finding some great help from forum.

 

I'd recommend starting a whole new thread, with as much details aspossible. You'll get more responses that way.

Have a look through the Electrical presentation in my signature, that may help you pinpoint the problem.