Alternator Repair
Daddylonglegs - 21/8/12 at 09:41 PM
Me again! Bl**dy alternators 
One of the guys from my local club had a Sierra Cosworth alternator spare so I bought that off him thinking it would fit OK after seeing a pic of it,
but I was wrong. Even though the fittings are almost identical, it is quite a bit fatter than mine and sits about 2mm from the exhaust whcih
won't be too healthy from what I can gather! I've already made my own mount for the old one and that was fairly close and I've spent
half the night trying to sort it but no chance.
So I've decided that I think the best thing I can do is to repair the one I have, I just cannot afford anymore outlay as it has skint me enough
getting the car OTR 
What is the collectives' thoughts on these repair kits which include bearings, rectifier pack and brushes? They seem to be around £20.
Thanks all.
JB
Chippy - 21/8/12 at 10:09 PM
Done a few in the dim and distant past, and all they ever needed were just a clean up of the slip rings, and new brushes, never had to put bearings
etc in at all. HTH Ray
PS. That is of course assuming that you can still get just brushes!
Dusty - 21/8/12 at 11:11 PM
I bought a suzuki jimni alternator four days ago for £10 from my local scrappy. I have 2 weeks to fit and test and can take it back if it's
duff. Small nippon denso unit. Modify your mount and fit something similar, swift, charade, etc. Just buy one with smooth bearings. Jap stuff is very
reliable and cheap used.
James - 22/8/12 at 12:22 AM
Bedford Rascal one was very small (and cheap!) at my scrappy and has done 2000 miles fine in my car.
I remember a few people saying not to hand spin an alternator the wrong way or you can damage it.
Cheers,
James
mcerd1 - 22/8/12 at 07:26 AM
the cossie altenator will be massive due to all the toys that those cars have - there are plenty of cheap alternatives...
the nippon denso/bedford rascal etc are a little harder to find in most scrapyards now
but the 1.0 micra one seems to have been used by quite a few folk and its common as muck 
[Edited on 22/8/2012 by mcerd1]
daviep - 22/8/12 at 08:40 AM
quote:
Originally posted by James
I remember a few people saying not to hand spin an alternator the wrong way or you can damage it.
Cheers,
James
Unless that was in relation to a particular alternator then it's an urban myth. Every alternator I've seen will run both both ways, only the
cooling fan is directional.
Cheers
Davie
Daddylonglegs - 22/8/12 at 11:17 AM
quote:
Originally posted by mcerd1
the cossie altenator will be massive due to all the toys that those cars have - there are plenty of cheap alternatives...
the nippon denso/bedford rascal etc are a little harder to find in most scrapyards now
but the 1.0 micra one seems to have been used by quite a few folk and its common as muck
[Edited on 22/8/2012 by mcerd1]
Yep, it certainly is mahoosive!
The Micra one sounds like a good bet, but the trouble is the pulley is for a serpentine belt and mine is a Pinto single 'V' type. Not sure
whether the pulleys are changeable?
[Edited on 22/8/12 by Daddylonglegs]
Daddylonglegs - 23/8/12 at 08:39 PM
Result!!
I called in to my local MOT garage to show him the car as he wanted to see it when OTR, and thought I'd ask him if he knew of a scrappy locally
to get an alternator from.
As it happens, he had a brand new one in a box he had taken as payment for something and it is the same one as I have apart from the fact it was
configured for left-side mounting not right. A quick rotate of the casing end and hey presto, it slots in a treat 
. And the best bit, he only wants
£25 for it 
I still have the issue with the light not going out until the revs go above 1500, but 'ollocks to it! It charges fine so I'll just live with
it, must be something to do with the warning light wiring?
Just waiting to see what goes wrong next.....when we get past this 4 days of rain we are forecast
JB
austin man - 23/8/12 at 08:48 PM
My alternator need a good poke of the gas pedal to turn the light out initially then it runs okay. Standard sierra one fitted
Daddylonglegs - 23/8/12 at 09:02 PM
Think I may have figured out why the light doesn't go out straight away. I was looking at my wiring diagram I produced when I made the loom, and
noticed the following:
Charging Light
Spot the deliberate boo boo. Instead of having the other side of the charge warning light connected to a switched +12V point, I have it wired to the
+Ve of the Voltmeter. So tomorrow I'll change it and see if it sorts the issue out.
Fingers crossed....
MakeEverything - 25/8/12 at 09:00 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Daddylonglegs
Think I may have figured out why the light doesn't go out straight away. I was looking at my wiring diagram I produced when I made the loom, and
noticed the following:
Charging Light
Spot the deliberate boo boo. Instead of having the other side of the charge warning light connected to a switched +12V point, I have it wired to the
+Ve of the Voltmeter. So tomorrow I'll change it and see if it sorts the issue out.
Fingers crossed....
In addition, your voltmeter will be permanently energised, and drain the battery. Shouldnt this be switched?
