So here I am North of Las Vegas with an alternator that is no longer fully charging, thought I could continue on a little longer until the next town. No such luck, 70 miles north of Vegas car goes silent. Have run my battery flat and Pertronix needs some juice to run. Pull over to far right of highway but still too close to passing big rigs.
Have an indoor/outdoor thermometer on car and is reading 105 deg. I imagine vultures circling above. I do have a spare alternator with me but am afraid to do a repair so close to passing big rigs, and I would have needed an impact wrench to remove pully and fan from bad alt.Had just bought a life insurance policy and did not want my wife collecting on it just yet. Call AAA for flat bed tell them it is 105 deg. and they would put a rush on service. Two and one half hours later flatbed arrives. Had put out reflective triangle and have one hours worth of road flares long used up.
Get towed to a local guy who works after hours out of a storage unit, had an impact wrench and took far too long to do the job and overpaid but what are the alternatives?
While he was doing the repair we hooked up a charger to this flat AGM Optima battery and because it was a standard charger was not able to bring up voltage.
AGM batteries require a different type of charger.With the help of my newly purchased Jump pack bought the day before was able to start engine.
Test voltage out of alternator and reads 12.4 volts, a couple of months earlier this alt. put out 14.7 volts what is going on? Hit the road and put on 100 miles to charge up battery and check into motel check votage again and still 12.4. Call my wife and say if I can not figure this out in the morning will return home. The next morning fire up engine and check voltage again and got 14.7, it seems that just sitting overnight the battery revived it self. At my next gas stop there was a Batteries Plus store and spoke about my experience and they confirmed this is possible.
Glenn, its all down hill from Vegas Hope you get back in w/o trouble but if you get stuck I could come out to help. Not sure what we’d do but years ago I limped home carrying an extra battery in the car. Went 200 miles with head lights on. Unfortunately extra batteries are not cheap these days.
pauls
For the future, I’ve found that carrying a small 20v impact wrench like Dewalt makes (with an apt assortment of sockets) is a good addition to my Jag trunk/boot. It’s small enough to use in relatively tight spaces and the 20v charge lasts a good long time. If you have wheel lugs it’ll make short order of those too - even the tire store tightened ones.
Just for future reference, you CAN remove the pulley without an impact wrench. You can insert a sturdy screwdriver or ratchet extension through one of the air vents, and rest it against the metal part of the rotor to keep it from turning, avoiding touching the wires, then use a socket wrench to remove the nut.
After 10+ years with Hitachi alternators, I switched to a Delco S10 about 6 years ago. Apart from being near bullet-proof, cheap ($40), and available from virtually ANY auto parts store on the planet, it is the only alternator I’ve ever seen that can be totally rebuilt in minutes on the road-side, with NO special tools, using a $30 parts kit. That includes both bearings, the power diodes, “triple” diodes, regulator, and brushes - basically EVERY functional part except the windings on the rotor.
Ray
Tried the screwdriver thing with a large ratchet and no go, it was real tight.
Will have to find a new conversion with reverse fan and 60 amps. Other than the alternator failure no other problems for the 3855 mile trip. I had left with a noisy transmission and lots of debris on magnet but it held up.
Lots of alternatives are available. Mike Frank’s Cool Cat site has lots of good info on alternatives. Ray’s alternative is well documented. I found a 65 amp Bosch unit at Advance Auto Parts (their part number 13147A) that costs $68, has the proper clocking and is easy to install but you’ll still need to source a reverse fan, which any decent alternator shop should be able to provide.
Something to keep in mind re: the reversed fan - it will improve efficiency of the fan, but the non-reversed fan will still move a lot of air, just not as much. I’d be willing to bet the alternator would STILL run considerably cooler than when mounted in the normal position, right next to the hot exhaust manifolds. Also, in the reversed position, it has forced air cooling from the vehicles movement, and MUCH cooler air flowing into the back, which will more than make up for having the “wrong” fan. On top of that, modern alternators are FAR better at tolerating heat than the old Lucas. If I had an AC car, I would not hesitate to use an alternator with the “wrong” fan.
Right. And there are some fans available with straight (radial) fins. They work equally well either way. Not as good as the correct fan, but better than a “reversed” one.
The back of my unit had two 3/8" B+ spades. These feed the terminal post and if you have AC the AC relay.
The D+ terminal on the alternator takes the wire that was labeled F+ on the Jaguar wiring diagram.
I didn’t use the other two wires one that feeds the 3AW unit and the other runs to the regulator. I simply disconnected the Lucas regulator. This means my warning light doesn’t work but I’m not concerned about that. If you want the warning light to work you should wire the alternator in accordance with Mike Frank’s instructions at Lucas Bosch In this case you would leave the regulator connected and do the disconnections Mike illustrates.
The black wire with the white connector on the left in the picture is the AL lead (W lead in Bosch terminology). You’ll use that if you follow Mike’s wiring plan to retain the warning light.
I had the fan laying around so I didn’t have to source that. I went to Autozone and they let me paw through their collection of takeoff pulleys and let me take one that fit. I had to cut the groove for the woodruff key. Any decent alternator shop should be able to source your fan and pulley.
A little confuse about “Will have to find a new conversion with reverse fan” Are you talking about moving the alternator to the oposite side and then changing the Alternator fan since it would be turning the opposite it would not provide enough cooling unless changed? Any pics of where it would mount if moved? I can understand the “cooler side” of the engine, but would need a step by step on the electical issues. I WOULD be very intersted since I have not installed my engine and I plan to get an AC setup, which it never has had! I would think the change would leave more room for mounting the Compressor??? I do not have P.S.
Thank You Paul. I see now. I was thinking reverse meant opposite side, not front to back reversal. That still might provide increased room for a compressor!
Surely one of the most ridiculous automotive brackets ever created. About the only worse one I’ve ever seen was on some late ‘70s Ford V8s - it was a GIGANTIC 1/4" stamped steel plate that was bolted to the front of the engine, and ALL of the accessories mounted directly to it. That frickin’ thing must’ve weighed at least 50 pounds all by itself! But, in those days, Ford just called that “more road-hugging weight”…
Isnt the reverse mounted alternator usually on cars with air conditioning? That way the A/C compressor is mounted where the Alternator was, on the left side of the engine.
Len Wheeler
Tucson
The reverse mounted alternator was ONLY used on cars with A/C, precisely to make room for the compressor to go where the alternator is on non-A/C cars.
cant argue that. this thing weighs about 50 pounds and is built like a tank. it’s built out of boiler plate steel and has more gussets than an aircraft carrier. but what the hey… I powder coated it and put it back. it does its job I guess. the original compressor weighed a ton too, so maybe that explains it.
Hope you get back in w/o trouble but if you get stuck I could come out to help. Not sure what we’d do but years ago I limped home carrying an extra battery in the car. Went 200 miles with head lights on. Unfortunately extra batteries are not cheap these days.
