damn...not again

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nuclearlemon

nuclearlemon

not an addict
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the 60's not liking me again...i don't know why.

went out this morning to go to work, and noticed that even though it started right up, it sounded more sluggish than usual. noticed at idle, not even pushing 12v. zipping down the road, barely over 12v...hoped it was being cranky, but on the way home, same thing....damn, and i just put a new fuel pump on...gues i'm putting a new alternator on now.
 
Could be just brushes. Whack it with a hammer. Alts are easy & cheap to rebuild - bearings, brushes, & diodes, that's all. On a level with master cylinders, only less real work, just disassembly & assembly.
 
swank60 said:
If there's been any added stress or a shock to the electrical system, you could have blown a fusable link. That'll look like a blown alt, too.
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only thing i've done differently is i let the carb fan run for a couple of days. never shut it off either before/during/after driving, but that thing doesn't draw squat for power.
 
That's what happened when my alternator started going bad. It was about 6 months or so before it just stopped charging the battery.

May not be related to anything you've done. Could just be old age or a mediocre rebuild.
Sorry. Sounds like your gonna need a dual battery set-up, upgraded harness and terminals allong with a heavy duty alternator. Not sure how your gonna break it to the wife though... :D
 
How much is the mean green alt.? My policy is to upgrade from what broke whenever I can.

Do you really need to have a new harness with a dual battery setup?

:beer:
 
Fearnofish! said:
That's what happened when my alternator started going bad. It was about 6 months or so before it just stopped charging the battery.

May not be related to anything you've done. Could just be old age or a mediocre rebuild.
Sorry. Sounds like your gonna need a dual battery set-up, upgraded harness and terminals allong with a heavy duty alternator. Not sure how your gonna break it to the wife though... :D
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uuuhhhh, you must not know me...i don't have a wife...someday i might be a wife though :flipoff2:

i checked the battery this morning and it's sitting at 11.44...still enough to start, but i'll need to do something. old age is probably the cause...23 years and never replaced.

what has everyone been doing for alts? el cheapo checker auto? oem? retrofitting a delco (if so, how hard or is it plug and play?)?
 
First of all, change that battery. Then search Mean Grean for the alt, supposedly it's the best.

:beer:
 
Mean green sounds nice, land pimp burnt one up pretty quick....you could do the GM upgrade and not have the volts change when you put turn signals on, or just get a new OEM one. hell it lasted 23 years might as welll get another one just like it.
 
?What kind of ba'tree?

Cheapo parts store battery with 3 year warranty for under 25 $. Not even the right physical size, but it was close enough and it was all they had. It's still going strong at 12 years.
 
lowtideride said:
Mean green sounds nice, land pimp burnt one up pretty quick....you could do the GM upgrade and not have the volts change when you put turn signals on, or just get a new OEM one. hell it lasted 23 years might as welll get another one just like it.
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i have amean green and had no problems with it. landpimp has one, but i think his first one crapped out on him.

looking at over $400 for a mean green....
 
Had one on a fj62 rebuilt.

Three years ago cost $160.00 Still working for the guy that bought the rig from me, had a one year warr. too. It's not rocket sience to rebuild one. Why spend the money for a mean green if you are not using winches or driving big lights etc?
 
True, but if you're going to do that in the future, you might as well replace it now, instead of having to do it twice.

:beer:
 
Geeze, Nuke, aren't you a parts gal or work with/know same?

Brushes, bearings, & diodes probably won't cost over $50. IIRC, the only unusual tool you'll need is a small bearing puller. And you'll know it's right & will fit. And if you screw it up, you can still use it as a core at VatoZone.

Worked with a bunch of real, ex-Detroit automotive engineers 20 years ago - most of them motorheads. The alt in my Audi was going out & I planned on buying a rebuilt, & I was telling that to one of the techs who made & sold wiring harnesses on the side for Mopar muscle cars. He said "why don't YOU rebuild it - it's SIMPLE & the parts are CHEAP!"

He said to call A-1 Auto Electric in Denver - they had all the parts, cheap. They also diagnose & fix all sorts of automotive electrical gremlins when you give up.
 
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Sorry bout that gender confusion! I forget that Women can drive cruzas too!

I went with OEM after looking into other one wire options and high out put ones. I also spent a few beers talking with my buddy the electrician and came to the conclusion that unless you are winching for hours on end or are competing in stereo trunk of funk contests your alternator really only needs to be able to maintain charge on your battery while your driving. Here's the rub... you need a really good battery not a high out put alternator for most applications. I went with the optima yellow top 31A and an OEM alt. The alternator is like a pouring bucket of water and the battery is the bucket. they have no idea how much each other has. The alternator works constantly and effortlessly. There is never a draw on it as others have indicated. The battery, however, gets all of the load and mearly drinks up what ever it needs. So as long as you are using your battery in a normal way the alternator will charge your battery as you cruze the trails or on the drive home. I have been checking my voltage and have not noticed a time when my battery was low. With all that said, if I was made of money I would not hesitate to buy a beefed up alt just to have one incase I became a wincher or ran a half dozen lights someday.

BTW, the oem is a plug and play deal and should take about 30 minutes including clean up time.

And regarding a new harness for dual battery setups... old stuff gets oxidized and such and as long as your in there why not ensure good connections all around. Not a total harness mind you but maybe just everything that you tap into when installing the batteries.

Good Luck!
 
The yellow-top looks good but isn't really suited for main battery application - it's a deep-cycle model, meaning it is meant to be charged up & then (almost) completely discharged before recharging. The red-top is designed for automotive applications.

I've been using Optimas since the Gates Rubber Company brought them out, can it be, 30 years ago!
 
Tinker said:
Geeze, Nuke, aren't you a parts gal or work with/know same?
Brushes, bearings, & diodes probably won't cost over $50. IIRC, the only unusual tool you'll need is a small bearing puller.
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Oh ho ho ha ha heee ha.... :D
$50, man that's funny. :)

But seriously, the front and rear bearings and the brushes will cost $30.
The diode pack is $200+ last time I checked. :eek:
The VR is $170. :eek:

A Denso reman alt is $150 or less from CDan.

BTW, the front bearing is a 6203RU.
Rear bearing is a 6201V.
Brushes are available from real parts stores for $5/pair.
:cheers:
 
or i could just buy an alternator from the local junkyard for $15 and a core and all will be well

everything's working fine with my junkyard alt :)
 
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