Charging Problem: Alternator? Charging Harness?
#26
RX-7 Bad Ass
iTrader: (55)
FYI the alternator grounds out through its body to the block. If you have the case powder coated or painted where it touches the block has to be bare metal or you will have problems.
Taking apart the alternator and putting back together is trickier than you would think. I would make sure you have a good alternator first then if you want to paint/powdercoat do that down the road. It's a 10 minute job to pull the alternator and that's taking your time, no big deal to do it down the road.
Dale
Taking apart the alternator and putting back together is trickier than you would think. I would make sure you have a good alternator first then if you want to paint/powdercoat do that down the road. It's a 10 minute job to pull the alternator and that's taking your time, no big deal to do it down the road.
Dale
#27
FYI the alternator grounds out through its body to the block. If you have the case powder coated or painted where it touches the block has to be bare metal or you will have problems.
Taking apart the alternator and putting back together is trickier than you would think. I would make sure you have a good alternator first then if you want to paint/powdercoat do that down the road. It's a 10 minute job to pull the alternator and that's taking your time, no big deal to do it down the road.
Dale
Taking apart the alternator and putting back together is trickier than you would think. I would make sure you have a good alternator first then if you want to paint/powdercoat do that down the road. It's a 10 minute job to pull the alternator and that's taking your time, no big deal to do it down the road.
Dale
#28
Rotorhead for life
iTrader: (4)
Taking apart the alternator and putting back together is trickier than you would think. I would make sure you have a good alternator first then if you want to paint/powdercoat do that down the road. It's a 10 minute job to pull the alternator and that's taking your time, no big deal to do it down the road.
Dale
Dale
#29
Senior Member
iTrader: (16)
Though I only see a voltage drop after the engine bay is thoroughly heat soaked; if the alternator case had a poor ground connection, I'd expect that I'd see the voltage drop on cold starts and every other time too, no?
Alternator disassembly/assembly can be a PITA - done at least a half dozen FC alternators and the FD ones are about the same as far as mechanical design & construction goes.
Alternator disassembly/assembly can be a PITA - done at least a half dozen FC alternators and the FD ones are about the same as far as mechanical design & construction goes.
Pete, you should have no problem switching the case on an FD alternator if you did the fc. It’s really not as bad as everyone leads on. After you get it split apart, despite what the FMS says, leave the voltage regulator soldered in. Just bend the strands out of the way slightly to get the screw holding it down. From memory the other three screws are out in the open. Just pull the entire assembly out as one and switch it over to the new case. Then you can easily but gingerly bend the strand back into position. It will make sense once you get it apart. The hardest thing is removing the pulley off the front. Just remember to index the case alignment before taking the front cover off. If you have a little impact, they seem to work best.
~ GW
#30
Update:
Got the Rock-Auto AC-Delco alternator installed last night. I scraped/cleaned the connectors, harness grounds, and engine grounds. Used some dielectric grease on the ground points and terminals. And added the JP3 ground strap on the manifold, cause why not?
Took a little drive and things seem improved. Fancy new multimeter says 14.2-14.4v, which is in range for a rebuilt alternator. The battery is not clearly over-volting or over-heating and threatening to boil. Although, I got a fancy AGM battery, since I figured this would work. I boiled a lead acid battery on that last bad-alternator and now I hate lead acid batteries forever.
I'm also Really Mad at Atkins for selling me that bad alternator. I guess I can't completely rule out some sort of installation error, or that's what I'm telling myself. It registered 18v at the parts store, but I never put my meter on it or checked much. I just took it out and started over.
It took me about 45min-1hr to get the old alternator out. Took me 3 hours to do the whole job. But, it was at 11pm, and I was exhausted and taking breaks and wandering around in the middle of it. Probably about 1.5hrs of real working time, if that.
Got the Rock-Auto AC-Delco alternator installed last night. I scraped/cleaned the connectors, harness grounds, and engine grounds. Used some dielectric grease on the ground points and terminals. And added the JP3 ground strap on the manifold, cause why not?
Took a little drive and things seem improved. Fancy new multimeter says 14.2-14.4v, which is in range for a rebuilt alternator. The battery is not clearly over-volting or over-heating and threatening to boil. Although, I got a fancy AGM battery, since I figured this would work. I boiled a lead acid battery on that last bad-alternator and now I hate lead acid batteries forever.
I'm also Really Mad at Atkins for selling me that bad alternator. I guess I can't completely rule out some sort of installation error, or that's what I'm telling myself. It registered 18v at the parts store, but I never put my meter on it or checked much. I just took it out and started over.
It took me about 45min-1hr to get the old alternator out. Took me 3 hours to do the whole job. But, it was at 11pm, and I was exhausted and taking breaks and wandering around in the middle of it. Probably about 1.5hrs of real working time, if that.
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#31
RX-7 Bad Ass
iTrader: (55)
Glad you got it sorted out!
I wouldn't be too upset with Atkins about the alternator, rebuilds are a mixed bag some times. You'll have one that will test good out of the box and a month later it fails.
Dale
I wouldn't be too upset with Atkins about the alternator, rebuilds are a mixed bag some times. You'll have one that will test good out of the box and a month later it fails.
Dale
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Narfle (09-26-22)
#32
Racecar - Formula 2000
The highest failure rate for almost anything is very early in its life. That's when component quality or installation issues often show up. Then you usually get a grace period until stuff ages out.
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Narfle (09-26-22)
#34
Form follows function
iTrader: (8)
Looks like I'm joining the dead alternator club on my FD now. I'm finding that the one it came with is getting weak whenever the engine bay heat soaks - so after driving around for a while, then getting stuck sitting in traffic I'll notice my voltage dropping below 13.5VDC, and if I'm running a bunch of high-amp loads (A/C at max, fans running max, lights on), it will dip as low as 12.8V at a low idle. Bumping up the idle a bit helps with that, but at only 13.3V~13.5V it's barely charging the battery.
#35
Rotorhead for life
iTrader: (4)
What you describe is exactly what your alternator should be doing. The regulator is temperature compensated for a lead acid battery in a hot engine compartment. An agm battery and/or cold (relocated) batteries may need a slightly higher charging voltage. If you have a lead acid battery with caps, you can check the electrolyte’s specific gravity for a precise read on the batteries state of charge. In another thread I talk about how to raise the charging voltage—if needed. Note that once you start to raise the voltage you will dramatically reduce incandescent bulb life. Voltage is not like boost—More is not necessarily better—your battery only wants and needs what it needs and no more.
#36
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there is a chart in the FSM with voltage vs temp for the FD
#37
Rotorhead for life
iTrader: (4)
The only thing I could find in the FSM that covers voltage vs. temp was a battery discharge test on page G-10. That test is done with a battery load tester, so the alternator is not in play. But I did find another troubleshooting chart that shows alternator voltage specs for the FD when at idle, independent of temperature - see excerpt below. According to that, anything less than 14.1V at idle measured between the alternator's B+ terminal and case (ground) is below par. This test assumes you have a good battery that measures more than 12.4V with no load on it.
#38
Racecar - Formula 2000
The only thing I could find in the FSM that covers voltage vs. temp was a battery discharge test on page G-10. That test is done with a battery load tester, so the alternator is not in play. But I did find another troubleshooting chart that shows alternator voltage specs for the FD when at idle, independent of temperature - see excerpt below. According to that, anything less than 14.1V at idle measured between the alternator's B+ terminal and case (ground) is below par. This test assumes you have a good battery that measures more than 12.4V with no load on it.
#39
Rotorhead for life
iTrader: (4)
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DaveW (09-29-22)
#41
Rotorhead for life
iTrader: (4)
Using a needle & meter probe alligator clip to back-probe alternator terminals
#42
Full Member
iTrader: (2)
Does anybody know if that AC Delco alternator is still available (3341163) anywhere? The list of available alternators at rockauto seems to skip right over that number
https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/ac...generator,2412
https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/ac...generator,2412
#43
RX-7 Bad Ass
iTrader: (55)
Just looked on Rockauto and it's not showing an AC Delco at all. They are probably out of stock, it may not be made any more.
Dale
Dale
#44
Senior Member
iTrader: (4)
I posted a tangential issue with alternators and AGM batteries.
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-gene...es-fd-1154706/
Essentially, old technology alternators (like ours) could over-charge an AGM battery, and AGM batteries also need a correct float charge that our alternators may not provide in the range needed. Of course, this is battery-dependent.
Meanwhile, with the exception of my engine harness, all my wiring harnesses are original to the car. Has anyone purchased any wiring harnesses from Ray in recent time? I'd be curious of what those go for these days. Maybe I'll ask him at DGRR next month.
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-gene...es-fd-1154706/
Essentially, old technology alternators (like ours) could over-charge an AGM battery, and AGM batteries also need a correct float charge that our alternators may not provide in the range needed. Of course, this is battery-dependent.
Meanwhile, with the exception of my engine harness, all my wiring harnesses are original to the car. Has anyone purchased any wiring harnesses from Ray in recent time? I'd be curious of what those go for these days. Maybe I'll ask him at DGRR next month.
#45
Full Member
iTrader: (4)
FYI the alternator grounds out through its body to the block. If you have the case powder coated or painted where it touches the block has to be bare metal or you will have problems.
Taking apart the alternator and putting back together is trickier than you would think. I would make sure you have a good alternator first then if you want to paint/powdercoat do that down the road. It's a 10 minute job to pull the alternator and that's taking your time, no big deal to do it down the road.
Dale
Taking apart the alternator and putting back together is trickier than you would think. I would make sure you have a good alternator first then if you want to paint/powdercoat do that down the road. It's a 10 minute job to pull the alternator and that's taking your time, no big deal to do it down the road.
Dale
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