ran the engine up for 10-15 mins this morning to check for an oil leak that I have now fixed. I let the engine get warm so the oil would be upto temp to check it properly. The fan was cutting in correctly to keep the engine to correct temperature etc etc.

3 or so mins after I'd turned the engine off (but left the battery cut out switch in) I noticed smoke coming from beneath the exhaust so quickly killed the battery master. My alternator is mounted below the exhaust on that side of the engine and it smelt platic/electricy. I couldn't see any damaged wiring/melted wires or anything like that.

I left it a couple of minutes to cool down further and then restarted the engine which runs fine but putting the multimeter across the battery I was only getting 12ish volts which appeared to be very slowly dropping off (hard to tell without running the engine for a long time).

about 4-5 mins of running the engine the same smoke appeared, but much worse so I quickly killed the engine and battery again.

Still no sign of anything burnt/damaged so I still think it must be the alternator due to the lack of volts across the battery when its running (it was 14.5ish when checked previously)

I am trying to figure out what could have caused this, obviously i need to source another alternator but want to find out the cause before I risk fitting another. Its a daihatsu small nippon denso type.

It had run fautlessly for several hours on the rolling road, the only difference I can think of is potential heat soak from the exhaust - i'm not sure I've run it for this long whilst stationary in the garage and at the rolling road it had large cooling fans pointing at the engine.

Any comments/suggestions/ideas?

cheers,

Ned.

[Edited on 17/6/06 by ned]

Ned, do you have a build diary? I notice you're using a vauxhall engine, did you get a rwd box for it? Looking good btw.

i did have a site at locostbuilders/users/ned but since chrisw did a backup or something when this site got hacked a while back it doesn't work anymore. I've contacted him about it but he's too busy/not bothered so I've given up trying. I've not got copies of the stuff that was up there either so can't be bothered to do another from scratch and I've lost a load of myearly photo's in the process aswell

[Edited on 17/6/06 by ned]

Argh. What a pain. Which gearbox did you use?
Cheers, Jon

type 9 with adapter bellhousing.

I would guess that the heat killed a rectifier so the battery is now discharging through the alternator windings.

i had planned to make a simple heat shield out of ally but now thinking wrapping the exhaust headers might be better?

Ned.

can you not fit the alternator on the off side?

i'll try and get some piccies in a mo martin but its rather busy on the other side with water plumbing, throttle bodies, remote oil sender, oil take off, fuel reg and steering column downlink, what are you doing for an alternator on yours/where is it mounted? I am thinking I might have been better mounting it lower like nsdev has done but i wanted to leave space for a dry sump pump. I guess the other option is the sbd bracket which is stupidly expensive

cheers,

Ned.

the feckin bitch has taken 1 AA battery out of my digicam (uses 4) without bloody asking or even bothering to tell me. can you tell i am just a little bit pissed off now? its not like battery's are expensive and she's in france all day and I am left with a camera short of a battery i know I can go and buy some but its not the flippin point!!

[Edited on 17/6/06 by ned]

Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean.

well i found out what she needed the battery for

quote:

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Originally posted by ned
well i found out what she needed the battery for

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now i have batteries here are the pics:

alternator location

alternator location again

That shouldn't get that hot there. I was expecting it to be much closer than that.

at the closest point its probably about 2" from the front exhausts header. I think I will wrap the exhaust anyway as the water outlet and thermostat is very close as the exhaust curves towards them to get the lengths equal.


Ned.

Mate,

You sure it's the heat that's killed it? Not just some dodgy wiring or 12v ignition feed or something?

From what I saw last week it looked more than far enough away... it's certainly further than mine!

Have you got a charge light bulb? Or are you relying on the Bright6 like me? My Dad reckons the Bright6 might well be pretty marginal at supplying the necessary current. Which may well explain why *my* charging is apparently intermittent.

HTH,
James

I had problems with the charge light on the bright6 but we put it down to probably a broken diode in the alternator - we also checked it using a bulb which made no difference so didn't think it was the bright6.

mounted on off side with a bracket from a 1.6 astra
Rescued attachment P2120678.JPG

wot that £70odd kit from sbd is just a standard bracket off a 1.6 astra?!

what year/mk of astra?

cheers,

Ned.