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Alternator failures--causes?
Good evening.
I have a 1998 Ford Explorer V6 with 172k miles. The original alternator failed in November, and I replaced it with a "premium" rebuilt alternator from NAPA. (The "premium" designation means that they install a new rectifier instead of a "good used" recitifier. I considered this an intelligence test.) This alternator failed a week ago. I returned it and they gave me another one. What I am wondering is, could there be some other issue with the electricals that is causing alternators to fail? Certainly it is no surprise that the _original_ failed with nearly 170k miles on it, and it is also possible that the first rebuild was faulty. But now I am worried that a few thousand miles from now I will encounter yet another failed alternator, perhaps when I'm up in the mountains rather than a few blocks from home. I want to make sure that there is not something else wrong that is causing alternators to fail. I checked the voltage drops from the BAT connection to the battery (+) terminal, and from the alternator case to the battery (-) terminal. The drops were 0.08v and 0.02v respectively. Those are acceptable I believe. Is there anything else I should be checking for? Thanks -Mark |
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#2
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Alternator failures--causes?
On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:16:29 -0700, "Mark G." >
wrote: >Good evening. > >I have a 1998 Ford Explorer V6 with 172k miles. The original alternator >failed >in November, and I replaced it with a "premium" rebuilt alternator from >NAPA. >(The "premium" designation means that they install a new rectifier instead >of a >"good used" recitifier. I considered this an intelligence test.) This >alternator failed >a week ago. I returned it and they gave me another one. > >What I am wondering is, could there be some other issue with the electricals >that is causing alternators to fail? Certainly it is no surprise that the >_original_ failed >with nearly 170k miles on it, and it is also possible that the first rebuild >was >faulty. But now I am worried that a few thousand miles from now I will >encounter >yet another failed alternator, perhaps when I'm up in the mountains rather >than a >few blocks from home. I want to make sure that there is not something else >wrong >that is causing alternators to fail. > >I checked the voltage drops from the BAT connection to the battery (+) >terminal, >and from the alternator case to the battery (-) terminal. The drops were >0.08v >and 0.02v respectively. Those are acceptable I believe. Is there anything >else >I should be checking for? > >Thanks >-Mark > How did the 'new' one fail? What is the average charging output (use a clamp-on DC Ammeter?) The concept that they 'use new rectifier' instead of a 'tested, good used one' is odd... First, you have no idea where that 'new' rectifier came from--and it probably came from china, where all crap like that comes from, while the OEM rectifier was probably a much higher quality unit. |
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