Alternator doesn't charge after replacement

[elk]

Hello,

My alternator died of age and I bought a new one POWER SELECT 8188N. While I had it checked and confirmed to be working, it doesn't charge when installed in the car.

The dashboard light is off - no errors. Just the voltage is flat - showing battery's voltage. I can start the car and rev it up - doesn't help.

Checked the thermistor - it's OK. Checked all breakers - OK.

I searched the forum but couldn't find a case like this.

Any clues very much appreciated as I have difficulty fixing my Aurora here in Europe and wouldn't like to see it converted into razorblades because fo this problem...

[RCA1186]

Is the battery good?

[elk]

I have an Odyssey Battery Dry Cell 78-PC1500 which I recommend to everybody (after having two stock AC Delcos).

I am able to drive >10km just on the battery so looks like it's quite good.

[RCA1186]

Well, I was going to suggest the thermistor but you checked that already. I can tell from your posts that you are pretty competent so I assume everything is connected correctly. My only thoughts on this are faulty wiring, or the alternator has failed you after installation.

Have you multimeter tested the alternator since installation? Or are you going off voltage on the DIC?

[Marc]

You cannot rule out the possibility that the new alternator is bad. It happened to me once on a car not comparable to an Aurora.....1972 442 W-25.

[elk]

To my own surprise Rockauto accepted a return without any discussion even though I had the unit mounted on the car... seems like a probable and known case of a factory bad one. Still, a surprise.

I found that there is a check procedure described in the service manual which requires to keep car at 2500 RPMs for 30 seconds before measuring the voltage. Actually I haven’t tried that before so I’ll give it a try in a couple of hours.

[elk]

Nov 14, 2019 10:03:39 GMT -6 elk said:

I found that there is a check procedure described in the service manual which requires to keep car at 2500 RPMs for 30 seconds before measuring the voltage. Actually I haven’t tried that before so I’ll give it a try in a couple of hours.

Unfortunately that didn't help.

[Toronado3800]

Nov 14, 2019 16:38:54 GMT -6 elk said:

Nov 14, 2019 10:03:39 GMT -6 elk said:

I found that there is a check procedure described in the service manual which requires to keep car at 2500 RPMs for 30 seconds before measuring the voltage. Actually I haven’t tried that before so I’ll give it a try in a couple of hours.

Unfortunately that didn't help.

Ok, so your tests manually showed 12 volts at the new alternator?

I have a wild, potentially unsafe idea about placing your battery under the car wired directly to your alternator and then cabled to the positive battery cable under the back seat.

I figure if the new alternator charges then its time to analyze the wiring between there and the battery. These cars are two decades old.

Is there a better test guys?

[scottcausey96]

I'm having the same issue. Did you ever get this solved? For my case, I suspect it's bad ground or the alternator is a dud.
Doing some more tests today to make sure I didn't screw anything up and that the wires are good.

[fatcity]

  I suspect the Aluminum Mounting bracket, might not be grounding properly .   If the Alt. put out on the tester, could a bad ground [ aluminum corrosion ]  keep the fields from exciting ?  If it starts, the battery + cables are OK, which leads me to think it's the bracket .   Test voltage from Hot to frame, again to block, and finally, to alt  bracket

[AuroraGirlFromMars]

Feb 21, 2021 21:36:07 GMT -6 fatcity said:

  I suspect the Aluminum Mounting bracket, might not be grounding properly .   If the Alt. put out on the tester, could a bad ground [ aluminum corrosion ]  keep the fields from exciting ?  If it starts, the battery + cables are OK, which leads me to think it's the bracket .   Test voltage from Hot to frame, again to block, and finally, to alt  bracket

Did anyone check the sense wire circuit for resistance before and after the resistor and also that the main power cables aren’t too resistive

[quixote]

I suspect fatcity is right... When I went through my car, cleaning the grounds and adding new ones to the strut towers, the bolt for my alternator ground had broken free of its weld to the body. I don't know of a fix for that, short of cutting off the bolt. I put one of my strut tower grounds on the alternator, so I didn't/don't have to worry about it.

I highly recommend both the "Big Three Upgrade" and adding extra grounds (strut towers are just very easy points to add). I looked back through the old posts here, a lot, did this very early, & so I've never had any electrical problems besides the connection under the driver's seat getting corroded.

[AuroraGirlFromMars]

Apr 17, 2021 22:44:23 GMT -6 quixote said:

I suspect fatcity is right... When I went through my car, cleaning the grounds and adding new ones to the strut towers, the bolt for my alternator ground had broken free of its weld to the body. I don't know of a fix for that, short of cutting off the bolt. I put one of my strut tower grounds on the alternator, so I didn't/don't have to worry about it.

I highly recommend both the "Big Three Upgrade" and adding extra grounds (strut towers are just very easy points to add). I looked back through the old posts here, a lot, did this very early, & so I've never had any electrical problems besides the connection under the driver's seat getting corroded.

what symptoms did that corrosion cause?

also, did you use your strut bolts to fasten the ground or did you use longer bolts to maintain full contact with the threads on the strut mount? or did you use a new spot?

[quixote]

Apr 18, 2021 14:14:47 GMT -6 AuroraGirlFromMars said:

Apr 17, 2021 22:44:23 GMT -6 quixote said:

I suspect fatcity is right... When I went through my car, cleaning the grounds and adding new ones to the strut towers, the bolt for my alternator ground had broken free of its weld to the body. I don't know of a fix for that, short of cutting off the bolt. I put one of my strut tower grounds on the alternator, so I didn't/don't have to worry about it.

I highly recommend both the "Big Three Upgrade" and adding extra grounds (strut towers are just very easy points to add). I looked back through the old posts here, a lot, did this very early, & so I've never had any electrical problems besides the connection under the driver's seat getting corroded.

what symptoms did that corrosion cause?

also, did you use your strut bolts to fasten the ground or did you use longer bolts to maintain full contact with the threads on the strut mount? or did you use a new spot?

One of the other suggestions, going way back, is to replace the connector under the driver's seat with a waterproof or marine connector... I had something like 2 quarts of water randomly leak out (no idea how) of a gallon jug on the backseat floor.  It shorts out the driver's electric seat controls.  Once you have that, it's a lot harder to get to the connector to fix or replace.

The original strut bolts seem to work fine, for the grounds --I guess it depends a little on the kind of terminal you have on the wire.  I used commercially produced ground wires & I'm a bit paranoid, so I did get a 1/4" longer bolt, for the grounds.  Still being paranoid, I'm not 100% sure I got bolts that are the correct hardness rating, for the strut tower.

I've seen youtube videos, where guys show how to make your own ground wire terminals from 1/4" copper tubing.  I tried it, I liked that you don't have to worry about the bi-metalic problem, and you can hammer where the bolt goes through pretty thin, but I felt a little better about going with wires that someone had actually tested for the purpose, for market. 

[AuroraGirlFromMars]

Apr 19, 2021 7:44:43 GMT -6 quixote said:

Apr 18, 2021 14:14:47 GMT -6 AuroraGirlFromMars said:

what symptoms did that corrosion cause?

also, did you use your strut bolts to fasten the ground or did you use longer bolts to maintain full contact with the threads on the strut mount? or did you use a new spot?

One of the other suggestions, going way back, is to replace the connector under the driver's seat with a waterproof or marine connector... I had something like 2 quarts of water randomly leak out (no idea how) of a gallon jug on the backseat floor.  It shorts out the driver's electric seat controls.  Once you have that, it's a lot harder to get to the connector to fix or replace.

The original strut bolts seem to work fine, for the grounds --I guess it depends a little on the kind of terminal you have on the wire.  I used commercially produced ground wires & I'm a bit paranoid, so I did get a 1/4" longer bolt, for the grounds.  Still being paranoid, I'm not 100% sure I got bolts that are the correct hardness rating, for the strut tower.

I've seen youtube videos, where guys show how to make your own ground wire terminals from 1/4" copper tubing.  I tried it, I liked that you don't have to worry about the bi-metalic problem, and you can hammer where the bolt goes through pretty thin, but I felt a little better about going with wires that someone had actually tested for the purpose, for market. 

I do t think you have anything to worry about strut wise and the wire wise IF Your bolt is long enough and IF you torqued it down. However, you should really verify you have a 9.8, 10.9, 12.9 hardness bolt there. If possible, buy the original length bolt But Find a studded top with just a few mm of thread where you Could nut a lug onto it. You may want to find out how much hood clearance you have, which there are many ways to do. I would just remove a strut bolt with it jacked up, close hood, and use a depth gauge or something thin to mark distance from hood to bottom of strut, then subtract bolt overall length 

If you have the clearance, you should consider a stud to mount above the holding clamp force if the bolt. The longer the bolt the more unaccounted forces that engineers wouldn’t design the unibody to handle or support there. 

[quixote]

Thanks. Honestly, I didn't worry much about clearance. The wire terminal is less than 1/8", of an inch --maybe less than 1/16"--- the extra length sticks down into the strut. I also still have the blanket in my hood, so I expect it to give me the leeway. Your idea of a studded bolt is a more professional solution & it would fit.

[AuroraGirlFromMars]

Apr 21, 2021 10:55:23 GMT -6 quixote said:

Thanks. Honestly, I didn't worry much about clearance. The wire terminal is less than 1/8", of an inch --maybe less than 1/16"--- the extra length sticks down into the strut. I also still have the blanket in my hood, so I expect it to give me the leeway. Your idea of a studded bolt is a more professional solution & it would fit.

 My thought about clearance was for if you decided to use a stud because that would add at least a bolt head and enough threads for another nut so that would be upwards a 1/4   But if it works it works lol

[moparman]

exactly wat mine is doin!