Bad alternator was the reason car was not driven for a year.
That got lost in the conversation about the old gas
and what the car was.
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I rarely buy used parts and never have them shipped but have had significant damage with new parts where the only packing material is that brown paper and a single panel corrugated cardboard box to cushion it.
I have been astounded at some things that arrive undamaged with what I consider insufficient cushioning for shipping purposes. I just got a heavy exhaust manifold packed in a plastic bag inside a simple cardboard box. Not to mention, the exhaust donut was loose inside the box. Amazing, everything looks great.
You need to contact the shipper. Was the box damaged in any way where you could see it was dropped? If I encounter a damaged box, I immediately take pictures before opening it.
It was packaged exactly like that, a couple wraps of brown paper in a standard cardboard box. I checked on my request earlier and the seller already issued me a full refund. Sucks because it was probably the 20 different pairs of hands that touched it before it got to me that dropped it.
Iād prefer to have the original, failed oem alternator repaired by a local auto-electric shop; if that wasnāt possible/practical. Iād purchase an oem-branded rebuilt unit from a dealership or local auto parts store.
Another option, a clever (or persistent) diyāer with more time than money could probably rebuild their original alternator themselves. Not rocket science.
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I remember using a starter rebuild kit from Fleet Farm for, say, $11 to fix my 1984 Chevy Cavalier. I was back in college - little money to spare, but I had the time to try something new and learn something. Few tools, no workshop. It was a very dirty job, but successful enough.
When the AC went out a couple years later, I had a teaching job and could afford to have it fixed. Luxury!
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Back in the old days, Iād just rebuild my alternators myself every 70k or so. Cost less than $30 an a couple hours. Front and back bearings, diode trio, brushes, and regulator. Good as new. I quit when the terminals were crimped or something making it hard to disassemble. After limited luck with new Napa parts, I switched to delco with no more problems. So I wouldnāt hesitate having a local motor shop do the work, unless the wiring is shot which would be highly unusual.
Looks like that shop wonāt be open again until monday, yesterday the weather was really bad and that seemed to cause a lot of issues for local businesses. While Iām here I donāt mind the education. Iām not new to a multimeter though. How often is it that anything but the brushes, volt regulator, diode trio, bearings or rectifier plate go bad? Anyone here have experience with maniacelectricmotors.com for rebuild kits? Ebay seller didnāt bother asking me to ship the busted alternator back for the refund. Maybe itās still got good parts in it, I got a few hours to burn.
Iām not a mechanic so just from a couple million miles of car repair, there really isnāt much else to wear out. Just the armature and the windings so if the smoke hasnāt been let out of them . . . They can be checked wit a meter, and a shop would use a vibrator on them to check.
I airways bought my parts from Napa and I think the standard brand. I would not trust eBay parts. But I would have a shop do the work. Iād also rather have my original rebuilt than using a junk part.
Iād expect replacing those parts would handle the vast majority of the typical alternator failure modes. You could take the broken one apart before deciding of course (take photos, makes sketches for reference) , to see if thereās something inside thatās not repairable. Cracked case, bearing housing, wiring looks or smells burned, etc.
The one time I remember a problem with an alternator going bad, it was obvious: the ground wire broke where it was clamped into its connector at the case of the alternator, all in plain view right behind the radiator. Mustāve been subject to some windage and flapping at that location.
I think I found the problem or at least āaā problem with the alternator that came off the car.
Here are the brushes in the voltage regulator. One of them is dull and black instead of shiny.
They look kind of short to me.
Here are the corresponding slip rings.
In contrast here is a picture of the brushes that came off the busted alternator sent to me (came off a 124,000 mile vehicle) For some reason one brush seems significantly longer than the other.
Took me a while to figure out how to throw together this mock benchtop test setup. Guess I gotta try it on the non busted alt since itās the one that actually spins.
I donāt get it. With the voltage regulator/brushes off the donor alternator hooked up it doesnāt charge and the light is dim, but with the regulator/brushes (short ones) that came with my alternator it reads 14v and the light (bright) goes off when I use my drillā¦ I donāt even know what to thinkā¦ How come it wasnāt working in the car? Iāll admit Iāve been tampering with it quite a bit but everything in this test was how it came out of the vehicle.
Is it because an incandescent bulb doesnāt represent a real load?
Iāve verified continuity between the ring terminal that connects to B+ on the alt and battery positive on car. Iāve verified continuity between alt ground and bat negative on the car. I seen only several milivolts of voltage drop at bestā¦ IIRC the charging indicator light on the dashed came on as it should, so there has to be a field voltage coming from the pcmā¦
Like smacking a dead starter motor with a hammer, you jarred/moved the brushes and now they are making contactā¦ Replace the brushes and run with itā¦
I got the brushes soldered back into the regulator. Put it back together, put it on the car, reconnected it and when I went to put the belt back on it slipped off the crank pulley, which is the hardest to get to of course. Spent quite a while trying to get it fished back on there from the top and it seems impossible (motor mount is putting up heavy defense), especially with everything drenched in oil. Car is currently sitting on soft grass/dirt and I own one jack and no jackstands. Things are looking a little bleek again. I had to take a break to come back to that task later. Just looking for some input.
As for the fuel tank that fuel pump relay bypass trick worked like a charm after I put in a fresh battery. The pump sounded cranky the first few seconds it ran but then it sounded okay again.
Move the car to solid ground and buy a jack stand.
What did you do with the old fuel?
I pumped the old fuel into a gas can. Quarter tank fit in a 2 gallon gas can lol. I stopped just short of going completely empty though, didnāt want to burn it up.
Sounds like you could use one of these.
Tester
I have several of those long grabber tools that have come in handy and a strong light to see what you are doing.
Now I will say, one of the worst was the belt on the aurora. The factory manual outlined the procedure of feeding the belt from underneath and through a small inch or so access hole. Took about an hour of frustration.
Too late now, but when I changed the alternator in my Pontiac, I made sure the belt stayed on the hard to reach balancer and compressor.
Didnāt even know they made stuff like this. Very specialty and specific but the thing probably works a thousand times better than trying to contort my hand in the 1 inch gaps between this transverse mounted engine and frame. If I can find somewhere locally that sells one of these Iāll buy the damn thing today.