So my 2004 Mazda Tribute (v6) died last week on my way to work. Engine started to sputter, radio cut off, and then everything just turned off. I coasted off to the side of the road and got a jump from a friendly passer-by, but it died again as soon as we took the jumper cables off. I assumed it was the alternator, and so I called a local mechanic to come tow the car and have a look. The mechanic confirmed that the alternator had died and needed to be replaced. After a $600 repair (belt + alternator) he said it was good to go.

I picked it up at the shop, drove it only one block back to my house and parked it, and when I got out I noticed a burning rubber smell coming from the hood. When I popped the hood I noticed a faint white smoke coming from somewhere underneath the engine. It was already late in the evening, so I just left it parked until the next morning. The next morning I went out and checked to see if any dash warnings were on, but everything seemed fine. I started it up and it started fine, left it idling for a few minutes, revved the engine a few times, and cut it off again. Popped the hood, and the white smoke and burning rubber smell was there again. I did a quick search online and read that it could be that the alternator is just burning off some residue from machining, so I started it back up again thinking I'd just revv the engine a bit to see if I could reproduce the smoke, and hopefully speed up the process so it's not smoking as I'm driving down the road. When I revved the engine, the smoke started coming out thicker, with the same burnt rubber smell, so I cut it off again. That's where I'm at now, hopefully someone has had this experience and can point me in the right direction.

I didn't want to drive the car to work today because I don't know if it's just the alternator burning off residue, or if something else could be wrong with it.
Anyone able to ease my mind on this matter? The mechanic who changed the alternator won't be in for the next 2 days, and I'm nervous about driving (or even starting) the car with smoke coming from the engine every time I turn it on.

 

I'm afraid not, a new alternator should not put out either a burning rubber smell or enough smoke to see. The minimal amount of anti-corrosion coating it may have had should burn off within a few miles and give very little, if any, visible smoke.

The burning rubber smell would indicate to me the belt needs inspecting as it would seem to be rubbing on something.

Changing out the alternator can be done a couple of ways, there may be more to check depending on the method he used.

 

Update:

Got the car back to the mechanic this morning, they took it out for a drive and didn't find anything wrong with it. The tech said that the area around the alternator was pretty dirty when they changed it out, so they used a chemical solvent to clean everything off. He thinks that is what was causing the smoke, just the chemical solvent burning off the hot exhaust. Apparently it's all good now. I'll find out this afternoon when I pick it up!

 

It is a bugger of a job to change out and you get oil from the differential leaking out when you pull the shaft out, there are a few brackets that need to be removed to be able to get the alt physically out of its spot I know left hand drive versions you can get the alt out up the back of the engine against the firewall, according to youtube, I unfortunately have a right hand drive it took 8 hours all up to swap it out