bloody electrical s@it
- Thread starter nimhbk
- Start date
Check the battery warning light in the instrument panel, I'm not saying this will be the cause but I had something similar on a vauxhall a while back. Basically the alternator wasn't charging cos it needed a 12v signal to turn it on, this is supplied from the ignition through the bulb and into the alternator. If the bulbs blown the alternator won't start charging when engines running. May be similar. Easiest way to check the bulb is turn ignition on and see if the bulb comes on.
No. I was just trying to remember something from 25years ago that said two earths to different locations could cause problem, but that was on electrical aircraft ground power units.
P
pulsarboby
Guest
nick you need to take that to an auto electrician to check out that wiring.
its most nlikely that 3 alternators that were all in gwo (one being your original) would end up frying and i know for definate that the last one i sent was in really good order from channys old motor.
its quite a complicated route with the wiring back to ign switch and there could be an intermittent fault in wiring or wire chafing somewhere ginng through bulkhead and going to earth which will very quickly destroy the voltage stabiliser unit on alternator, without worrying you you really need to sort this or you could end up with a major burn up
could be a bitch to try find that so good luck
its most nlikely that 3 alternators that were all in gwo (one being your original) would end up frying and i know for definate that the last one i sent was in really good order from channys old motor.
its quite a complicated route with the wiring back to ign switch and there could be an intermittent fault in wiring or wire chafing somewhere ginng through bulkhead and going to earth which will very quickly destroy the voltage stabiliser unit on alternator, without worrying you you really need to sort this or you could end up with a major burn up
could be a bitch to try find that so good luck
Last edited by a moderator:
Fusion Ed
Active Member
Its really not that hard to work out 
The alternator only needs two wires and a ground to work.
Its truly as simple as doing the following:
With the engine running do all these tests with a multimeter on the voltage setting:
Get a good connection from the alternator case and put the - terminal on this.
The put the + terminal on the battery NEGATIVE terminal.
Make a note of the voltage. It should be LOW say around 0.2 volts.
Now put the + from the multimeter onto the nut connection on the alternator, and still keep the - connected to the alternator casing. Voltage should be AT LEAST 14v with the engine running.
Now get someone to bring the engine revs up to about 3000 rpm. Check the voltage again. It should be still above 14 but below 14.6 ish. If its outside of this range it implies a faulty regulator within the alternator. It may be at that at idle the voltage will be below 14 if you have only just started the car, but a quick rev to a couple thousand should bring it up.
Finally with the + still on the alternator + output put the - terminal on the + on the battery. This is where your most likely to see a voltage drop. The voltage here should be below 1.0v ideally much lower.
If this is high then easiest solution is to run a new thick cable from the + on the alternator directly to the battery. Although unusual to have to do this on these cars its not so uncommon to have to do this on old cars which often has underrated cable anyway.
Other than wear and tear, the other reason I have found alternators die quite quickly is from over heating. They typically draw air IN from the BACK and then it gets pushed out the sides. If the pipework is too close to the turbo down pipe it can kill them very quickly. This I have seen and have experienced 1st hand. The regulators will fail if they exceed about 100 deg very quickly.
The alternator only needs two wires and a ground to work.
Its truly as simple as doing the following:
With the engine running do all these tests with a multimeter on the voltage setting:
Get a good connection from the alternator case and put the - terminal on this.
The put the + terminal on the battery NEGATIVE terminal.
Make a note of the voltage. It should be LOW say around 0.2 volts.
Now put the + from the multimeter onto the nut connection on the alternator, and still keep the - connected to the alternator casing. Voltage should be AT LEAST 14v with the engine running.
Now get someone to bring the engine revs up to about 3000 rpm. Check the voltage again. It should be still above 14 but below 14.6 ish. If its outside of this range it implies a faulty regulator within the alternator. It may be at that at idle the voltage will be below 14 if you have only just started the car, but a quick rev to a couple thousand should bring it up.
Finally with the + still on the alternator + output put the - terminal on the + on the battery. This is where your most likely to see a voltage drop. The voltage here should be below 1.0v ideally much lower.
If this is high then easiest solution is to run a new thick cable from the + on the alternator directly to the battery. Although unusual to have to do this on these cars its not so uncommon to have to do this on old cars which often has underrated cable anyway.
Other than wear and tear, the other reason I have found alternators die quite quickly is from over heating. They typically draw air IN from the BACK and then it gets pushed out the sides. If the pipework is too close to the turbo down pipe it can kill them very quickly. This I have seen and have experienced 1st hand. The regulators will fail if they exceed about 100 deg very quickly.
So today i have heat wrapped the manifold
Taken out the 4 meters of 18mm thick + cable seemed to thick and to long, also had three breaks in it one to hold a fuse box, 2nd a kill switch and the third a spliter
purchased a new jap battery and going to go back to the oringinal set up with the battery in the engine bay and will then start from there looking for problems
Taken out the 4 meters of 18mm thick + cable seemed to thick and to long, also had three breaks in it one to hold a fuse box, 2nd a kill switch and the third a spliter
purchased a new jap battery and going to go back to the oringinal set up with the battery in the engine bay and will then start from there looking for problems
red reading
Active Member
engine block (by thermostat housing) to chassis/battery main earth.
red reading
Active Member
right hand side below the dizzy at the opposite ende of the bottom rad pipe