"rebuilt alternator" yeah... right.

[_97tsiawd_]

Ok so yesterday i was driving around on a really hot day for the NW (107) anyways my volt meeter was reading 12 when normally i run 14 and i thought maybe due to the heat my battery was over heating. When I got home I parked it and was planning on figuring it out today... I saw that the distilled water level was a little low, I added some and was thinking it was that simple.... Ohhhh No... not with DSM's its not... I started the car and turned on all the lights, fan, radio to make sure everything was getting power... then as i watched my volts dropped to 10, 8, 6... then the car died.
I had just put in a rebuilt alternator a few weeks ago and wouldnt have thought is was the problem, but i pulled it anyway and when I got it apart I saw that the brushes where worn way down... figuring this was my problem I installed new ones and put the ALT back on...
Gave the car a jump and let it charge for a bit then took the jumper cables off and within 5 min it was dying once again...
So now i dont know whats happening .... please any help you can offer would be great!

 

[DSM1G90]

Gave the car a jump and let it charge for a bit then took the jumper cables off and within 5 min it was dying once again...
So now i dont know whats happening .... please any help you can offer would be great!

1- your battery's toast - why it's blowing the regulators in the ALT.

2- if your battery is real low, put it on a charger. Don't let that alternator do all the charging since it's actually designed to only "top off the battery" and supply power to the system. If it's charging all the time, say "goodbye" to the regulator..and even to those brushes since they're in the charge loop as well for that alternator and will burn up a lot quicker than normal.

- have fun on the road. - DSM

 

[1983gsp]

Before you throw the battery into the junk pile, put it on a slow charge until the battery has a resting voltage of 12.6v
Resting voltage is the voltage of the battery after 30 min of being fully charged. then get your local parts slinger to do a load test on the battery, or get a hydrometer from your local autozone and measure the specific gravity of each cell of the battery. follow the instructions that come with the hydrometer.
if the batt checks out good, then your alternator either has a blown voltage regulator or is not getting the correct voltage signal to the ''s'' terminal on the back of the alternator or you have a blown fuse or an open circuit or,...you get the point.

Get a chiltons or Haynes manual and it will tell you how to check the alternator for proper operation.

 

[1983gsp]

One more thing, the battery's purpose is to supply the nessesary voltage to start the car and thats it. the alternator handles everything else, its the voltage regulators job to make the alternator produce more or less amps and volts as the car demands it.

if you put a new alternator with a battery that has a low charge, the alternator will produce the maximum amount of current and volts as it can to make up for the poor state of charge on the battery. that really stresses the rectifing diodes in the regulator and sometimes pop a diode or two. so your best bet is to put a full charge on your battery before you crank it up.

 

[luv2rallye]

bad alt or battery test: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/pro...reeway-electrical-problems.html#post151165661

 

[_97tsiawd_]

The battery was brand new as of a month ago and it was fully charged before i tried turning it over...

 

[Littlebeeper]

take the alternator to get checked. it could have a bad diode, regulator, rotor, or stator. its not just the bearings and brushed that go bad.

 

[2drStunner]

take the alternator to get checked. it could have a bad diode, regulator, rotor, or stator. its not just the bearings and brushed that go bad.

x2! Plus youll prob get a new alternator out of it!