Cleaning an alternator?

[Jimbo Mahoney]

My alternator has started giving me some problems.

1994 306 DTurbo

I thought the battery was dying, and it went quite suddenly on the motorway @ 6 am on my way to get a flight from Manchester (I'm in Nottingham).

Anyway, called out the AA and it turns out its the alternator. The guy did the old hammer + alternator trick and that got it going again.

The question is, what shall I do?



Service current alternator? (I can take it off, but then what? I don't fancy taking it apart - can I just put it in the bath or something? )

Get one from a scrappy? (Won't this be just as bad since I won't know how good it is?)

Get a brand new one? (£100 + VAT - ouch, but at least it should last)



I plan on having the car for as long as it's economical to run (hopefully some time yet!).

Thanks.

 

[-Mike-]

Hammer and alternator trick? What is that! It depends how much money you want to spend, is there a place that could recondition your old one?

I got another one from the breakers but to be honest I don't think its brilliant itself As you say, if you intend on keeping the car, maybe invest in a new one.

 

[Dublove]

I checked mine over a little while ago. You can get bearings, bushes, comutators all the parts you need basically.

Things to check are:

Bearings mostly - play in the main spindle. It should have no slack. Mine had the very slightest amount of play, I decided it wasn't worth doing the bearings yet.

The comutator - Check the copper contacts, I gave them a good clean with scotchbrite.

The inside I gave a thourugh clean and blasted the wire core with compressed air.

A good way to check for bad bearings is to get a screwdriver press the blade hard on the alternator housing and press your ear on the handle. Obviously with the engine on or spinning it. Listen out for scraping noises, roughness etc.

 

[hyster]

If you alternator is faulty cleaning it is not going to make a great deal of differece.

Presuming its not seized .you need a multimeter to check the charge rate,

engine turned off your battery will be at around 12v (depending on state of charge)

engine running connect multimeter to battery swich on the lights and you will see the voltage drop a little, give the engine a little rev up voltage should increase to 12.5-14.5v.

If the alternator is not charging you either need to replace it or get an auto electrian to overhaul it.

A local garage will be able to test your alternator if you dont have a meter.

good luck,
Hyster

P.S.

The only hammer trick I know is for starter motors with sticking solenoids.
But thats another story.

 

[tb2000]

The hammer trick usually sometimes helps when it's got a sticking brush. Best thing to do is to try a new brush pack in it. It's usually only held in with a couple of screws and a couple of wires coming from it. Probably set you back around £30 depending on where you get it from.

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

The hammer trick usually sometimes helps when it's got a sticking brush. Best thing to do is to try a new brush pack in it. It's usually only held in with a couple of screws and a couple of wires coming from it. Probably set you back around £30 depending on where you get it from.

How easy would it be to do myself? I have a Haynes manual, amd have changed an alternator before, but not dismantled one.

Thanks for the advice so far all!