Well, last week I had charging problems. The bearings on my alt were toast and also the charging voltage was very low. The smart thing would have been to have the alt rebuilt at a good auto/electrical shop, but I *really* wanted to use the van for a 450 mile excursion the following day, so I just bought a rebuild from Kragen instead. (I know better, but...) All was well for the first 390 miles of the trip. Then... BING, on comes the charging light. Crap. Pull over and take a quick look. Hmmmm.... Belt is still on, wires look tight, nothing obvious, but no charging. Sigh... only 60 miles to go and it's daylight, so just go for it! Only 15 miles from home, heading up a moderate grade and the game is over. The van dies suddenly. Only about 2 seconds warning that something is wrong. Rats... game over. Hit the key to crank it and... nothing. Push the van about 50 feet to a safe place off the road and walk 1/4 mile to a house with a phone. Call a friend to come get us and take us home. Come back with a fully charged battery, set it in the van, hook it up with jumper cables and VROOooom... starts right up. Drive it home. Troubleshooting reveals that the regulator is DOA. Rats... The alternator itself tests O.K. and looks nice inside, so instead of taking it back to Kragen for another one (Lifetime warranty = spend your lifetime changing them) I decided to keep this one and swap the internal regulator for an external Ford regulator. I prefer external regulators anyway because they can be set up to sense the charging voltage right at the battery instead of at the alternator output and also can be mounted on the chassis away from the heat and vibration of the alternator. And I had a spare Ford regulator. Anyway, the transplant was a great success and the battery voltage now is a delightful and constant 14.3 volts even with all lights and accessories on instead of the measly 13.8 volts with NO lights and accessories and 13.0 volts with highbeams on that I had with the internal Bosch regulator. My headlights got noticeably brighter too, and they were already pretty bright after doing the headlight relay conversion last week. Volts are good... Volts are your friend.. (-: Steve |
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