Technical Charging issues on maiden voyage, I am stumped.

where did you purchase the alternator? I went through three from orielly's for an ot car that was doing a similar thing.

 

Oreillys.

 

is it that hard to remove and take it back and get it tested?

 

id take it back and get a refund and go to napa or have one rebuilt. my issue was the voltage regulator was bad in all three of mine. Mine also would test good on their machine.

 

It tests good. Tested it twice.

 

I just may take it back and get a refund.

 

do a quick google search you will see its a common issue with their alternators

 

It appears it was built in Mexico, as most things are these days…..
The good thing is that it has a 1-800 number for charging problems right on the sticker…….I should call them and let them troubleshoot it.

 

After the cordials & initial intake info, the first thing they will ask is about the 3 wires hooked to the alternator.

 

Fusible links don't heal themselves, that I know of.

 

No , but hot cables wll carry less juice and when they cool carry more.

That pc925 has relatively small lugs, how did you handle that small bolt to large cable relationship

 

They sell a terminal kit to convert it to top post style lugs. The kit is made by Odyssey. It attaches with allen bolts in the center. I checked them for tightness as well.

 

I know, but I am grasping at straws here…...

 

I suggest you go ahead and connect the sense wire, then drive it around and watch the system voltage under various conditions. I think you'll figure it out. There aren't too many things it could be...it's probably either wiring problems, or a weak alternator.

 

You say you've had the alternator tested, was that on the car or off? Off the car tests don't always tell the whole story, I'd recommend a 'on the car' test with a load test of both the alternator and battery. It's possible to have some fried diodes in the alternator which can reduce amp output which the alternator will attempt to compensate for by increasing voltage.

Most parts houses have testers that can do on the car tests these days....

 

From what you have described it sounds like your coil wires may be crossed. I have had it happen and the car would act just as yours. Die after about 40 miles and after a 10 minute cool down it would fire back up and run fine again. You jumping the battery might just be giving your coil enough time to cool down. The car should run with anything over 12v. Coils will not keep working wired backwards. Just something to double check.

 

Had a couple of alts go on my daily, first time , radio went dead, then tach started jumping around, I had around 5 volts left when I stopped. turned everything off , jump stated and made it to the next town about 2 hours off. Next one, same deal eventually the car stopped and I had 3 volts left, didnt go any further..... If you have 12 volts you have a day of driving there on just ignition. There is more than one thing wrong here
1. as suggested never disconnect the alt when running, Id be surprised if all the diodes still work now.
2. You should have a volt meter hooked up in the car so at least you can see the volts going down when something goes wrong
3. battery sounds sus.
4. there could be a short somewhere, that would stop you, thermo fans shouldnt turn on when your moving , what else you got hooked up? is there volt loss to the dash/ignition switch (meaning are you already running on low volts due to some fault in the wiring before you even start) ? maybe you could borrow a battery and see what hapenns

 

Followed the link to O'rielys:

Brand Information
Every Component in a BesTest Remanufactured Value Line Alternator is Designed for the Short Term, Budget-Minded Customer.

Its built to break, quickly.

 

I have been pondering this for some time. I think this is what may be happening. Give me your thoughts.

I think because the sense line is not connected, the alt is running wide open and not cycling and thus not cooling. After it runs for an extended length of time (40-50 miles) it overheats and voltage regulator quits working. Then it continues to run until the battery depletes. (Now keep in mind the car never quits running, it just starts running rough) When I pull over to jump it, the alternator cools down and VR starts charging again, until it gets hot again.

I am waiting on the pigtail to show up and then I am going to install it and drive it to see what the end result is. Then we will go from there.

 

It sure would be helpful to have a volt meter in the car, so you can see what's happening.

 

That is sort of what is going on. The voltage regulator REQUIRES the voltage sensing wire. On a one wire this is just internally jumped to the the bat terminal. The voltage sensing wire should be hooked up to the distribution block, the horn relay on a typical older GM. This is to take into account voltage drop. Your alternator will not work with out the voltage sensing wire hook to a positive somewhere. As I said before.

I'm tempted to call haywire's "technical support" and chew em out. I've got some free time. How do people like this get jobs?

 

Who knows. It could have been an off day for the guy....I don't get too concerned. It makes me learn about different systems. It would be tough to know every possible scenario on every car.

Jim, I am adding a voltmeter to the cluster, but it may be a day or 2.

 

I don't think you need the resistor if your running an indicator light, but other than that, this diag is how any alternator should be hooked up. At any rate the resistor is not going to hurt anything if it is large enough. Notice the sensing wire running to the distribution block. I'd run the bat wire straight to the battery but that's just me. Even jumping the sensing wire to the bat terminal on the alternator is better than not having it hooked up. It just won't compensate for voltage drop between the alternator and the distribution block.

 

The sensing wire needs to be hooked up on every car with every type of alternator, A one wire alternator just does it internally. It's not tough at all.

 

^^^^ X 2
I believe also what is said above, hook up that "sense" wire, and also at least tempoarily hook up a voltmeter you can read from the driver's seat!!!!!!!!'

 

Tried to skim all the posts, maybe I missed it. So not sure if you tried it. If so, I apologize.

I had the same problem recently. Running, the battery would die after a long time. If I left it hooked up but not running after a couple days the battery would die, The alternator would also get smoking hot when running.

After much head-banging, I realized that I had the two wires switched that go into the 2-prong harness (field wire and sensing wire). Switched them around and everything is happy now.

 

Oh I agree & he should be hitting about 14.5v or so when it's really charging.

 

well I noticed or didn't notice, did you try another battery? I have never had good luck with "6 Pac" batteries

 

It's also just possible that they're not making contact, but I don't know that specific alternator. I've taken "cliped in" diodes out and cleaned the corrosion from them & put them back, and suddenly the thing will charge. The mechanical connection is simple spring pressure, and any light corrosion blew the connection.

 

Good Lord! It's like a freakin casino out there anymore.
You buy a part now and you're literally betting with your $ on whether it will actually function.

NAPA or nothing for me now.