Re: Alternator confusion..

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

Steven Stegmann wrote:
 
> This is why I like the one-wire alternators.  It's pretty easy to
> troubleshoot the system.  The trouble is either inside or outside the
> alternator.  If outside, keep looking.  If inside, rebuild with another
> one-wire rebuild kit from Summit.

Guess what started working last night? ;-)

I drove to work yesterday.. no charge.  Drove to NAPA.. no charge. 
Priced a new regulator.. $28 to $50.. drove home.. 4 blocks from home
(NAPA's probably 8), I get off the main road, and decide to punch the
throttle... and it charges!  Huh???

Shut the truck down, start it again.. no charge.. blip the gas..
charge.  So the threshold on the 63amp is higher than idle.. just like
my 90amp..

Worked fine last night.. worked fine today on my way to work.

I whacked the voltage regulator a little bit last night to see if it
might fail again.. nope.  I neglected to wiggle the regulator wires to
the alternator though..

One thought is all of the humidity from the heater core leak caused some
kind of problem that's now gone away.  Why it wasn't gone on my way to
NAPA yesterday I don't know.. I think I had the revs up high enough...

If it doesn't happen again this week, I think I'll try swapping the
regulator from the '72 into the '77, and having the '77 regulator
tested.. just for good measure.

Maybe I'll order a 1-wire conversion one of these days.. I could even
leave the stock regulator in place as a backup for the 1-wire kit..

Great.. problems that come and go... I love it. :-)

-Tom