Alternator died, trying to figure cause
 

Car is a series 5 TII with an FD alternator from Silverrotor. Alternator worked great for almost 2 years, no problems. Put insurance on the car 2 days ago so I can being driving the thing finally and start tuning and look at my laptop and it is only reading about 12.6 volts. Car is runing like shit because it is getting such low voltage. I limp home and check some things out.

First off, the alternator is extremely hot. An hour after shutting it off, it was still hotter than the engine block was right after shutting it off and it stayed hot for a few more HOURS after that.

Second, I notice that my battery cable and engine power source on the output terminal are loose ( I forgot to tighten this down, wasnt flopping around, but it wasnt snug). Also, the output terminals insulation is cracked and broken, and was like that since I opened the box from silverrotor. (PIC 1)

Third, the copper coils inside the alternator seemed to have turned black on the outer ring. Now I dontknow if this is normal or not, but up until yesteray I could swear that they were copper colored, not darkened and burned looking. (PIC 2, 3)


So basically what I'm wondering is if I fried my alternator by not having those power wires snug and causing the alternator to overwork by loose connection and higher amperage being run through there?

Also, is this thing rebuildable or am I better off buying a new one?

first question that i am wondering is if you have a big sterio system in the car cause if you do then there is a big cause for concern i have an 83 1st gen that i have wasted three alternators on from just the sterio alone 7's have too small of an alternator to run big sterios or other applications on like other electronics tv's stuff like that if this is the case then you can get other higher amp alternators from companies you just have to do a little research

I have the same FD alte from silverrotor so I know its quality stuff. At a 100 amps (or even a little more on some of them) it can handle most any reasonable stereo system thats installed properly.

If I were you I`d pull that one out and take it to a alternator / starter rebuilder who has the right testing equipment and see just what it will do.
If it needs a rebuild you should be able to have it done right for about 125-150 dollars.

it's old this stuff happens and sucks to put another in