Alternator issues..again. Real Time Help Needed. (1 Viewer)

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Louisville, KY
Ok fellows. Round two.

On Friday, my truck died. Would not start-dead battery.

Right before it died, I noticed that the voltmeter was reading 9-10 volts.

Last weekend, I changed the brushes on the alternator and everything looked good i.e. voltmeter showed good charge and my brake/battery lights disappeared.

So, I charged the battery and went down to Autozone and they did a stress test on the charging circuit. They state the battery is fine and the alt is not putting out the right amount of voltage.

A couple of important facts:

1- Since changing the brushes, my low charge lights have not come on-still dont know with the voltmeter showing 9-10 volts.

2- I notice, and I have never beforem that when I put the truck into reverse (manual) the voltmeter will dip a couple of volts i.e. when touch the reverse gear in the tranny, voltage is draining. I suppose that is the backup lights maybe??

Anyway, I checked all the wiring and I dont see any issues.

I know I am going to have to remove the damn thing again but checking to see if you have any idea.

NOTHING was done to the truck other than alt removal and brush replacement.

Thanks all.
 
perhaps a broken stator wire. which would require some soldering. of course you gotta tear it down pretty far.

how did the armature look? you clean it up before puttin on the new brushes?
 
I'm usually in the camp of "oh it's an easy fix, I can rebuild it". But, at some point it just becomes too much trouble to futz with a dying old alternator, it's not worth the time and hassle. I went thru this with my truck last Spring, swapping brushes on a old alternator, only to have it then run super hot, which I never could figure out.
 
Well, the brusher WERE shot. Had very little left to them. The armature looked fine to me.

I find it odd that I am not getting the service lights. Why is that???

I am going to take it off and have a show look at it/test it.

I suppose something else could have been going on BUT why would it have worked all week? Do you think I just ran the battery down and THOUGHT it was charging last week?
 
I honestly can't remember what turns on the Charge light, I know it's a low voltage situation, but I don't know how it actually works. Another thing I would do is not use AutoZone for something like this, ask around at the small repair shops to see if they know of a place that rebuilds alternators. You want the old guy that has piles of parts laying around, works out of an old garage, etc, but he knows his stuff. Have it tested there.

My experience with using the drones at AutoZone has not been... "comforting" (if you know what I mean).
 
Yeah, I follow.

There is a shop just like that where I used to send all my alts.

I figured I would give the brush replacement a go.

We'll see.
 
Resolve: bad diode/rectifier.

I am going to have the shop rebuild the entire thing for 60.00. Already have brushes so might as well knock it out.

Lesspn: Dont EVER assume it is something. Test it out AFTER the work is completed.

I also went ahead and put in a new radiator.
 
Wow, $60 to rebuild an alternator is a good solution.
 
I thought so.

This shop has been on Lexington a LONG time. ALL they do is rebuild starters and alts. Big/small and everyhting in between. Starters usually run 35.00 and alts 60-65.

I will get bearings, brushes, complete clean and all parts fixed to factory spec.

Father and son shop. Nice to have them here.
 
Alt. installed today. The truck lives another day!

If I only had a dollar for every person that said I should sell it since it is starting to "break". Speaks mountains about today's culture.
 

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