Dino Saga 070304 _ Alternator Again

Dino Saga 070304 _ Alternator Again

Thought that fixing bearing and oil leaks would fix alternator problems forever. See Dino Saga 051120. 5,000 miles later I started up and no charge. Oh well, drive in the daytime, charge for a few hours every day, no panic. Brushes might have gone again. Why so soon? Usually last for 15,000+ miles. Finally took a look at why or what. Put voltmeter on output of regulator going to brushes. 12 volts. Pulled wire to alternator brushes and measured resistance. Open circuit. Brushes gone or wire came loose. Time to take a look.

It was just getting warm after a rain storm so waited until after lunch to start. Rolled out my trusty $20 jack and a couple of jack stands. Lifted car, pulled wheel, pulled fiberglass shield and looked. Wire to brushes was flying in the air. Was not spot tied to alternator output wire so had flapped around and worked its way off. I could see it but there was no way I could get my hand in there to push it back on the brush terminal. Damned aluminum casting made to hold clutch and air pump blocked everything. Oh well, I had done it before and there was still a couple of hours of warm sun. Pulled both wires at junction box. Loosened hose clamps on water line on bottom of oil cooler and let coolant drain into a bucket. Loosened clamps on oil cooler so it could move a little. Removed heat shield and its mounting bracket from forward corner of engine. Removed adjusting bolt at top of alternator and pulled drive belt. Removed lower pivot bolt holding alternator to aluminum casting. Cursed a lot but worked alternator out through the cutout in the right gas tank.

Nice to be able to work on the engine without oil all over everything. Never had that luxury before. Import Auto guys did a good job. Little bit of oil at back of engine but front was clean as could be. Sure wish I had gotten or fabricated a European alternator mount while the engine was out. That huge aluminum casting invented to hold the smog stuff should be in my basement with the AC bits and pieces and all the rest of the smog junk. Hope Omgjon takes the hint when his engine finally starts going back together. One of these days I will get around to doing something.

Took alternator into my shop and pulled brushes. Beautiful. Looked at rear bearing. Right where I put it. Put everything back together, plugged brush wire back. Spot tied wires together so there was no strain on the brush wire. More cussing but went back together faster than it came apart. Poured coolant back and started engine. 35 amps indicated and all was well. It was getting cold (65 F is cold in Santa Barbara) so went inside to clean up and have a glass of wine. Occurred to me that I had never thought of taking pictures during the entire episode. Damn.

Oh well, there will be another time. There always is and that is part of the enjoyment. It’s a driver and I love it.

John
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