More electrical gremlins

[godblessmud]

Thought id share with yall (some have already heard me ***** about this but..) about my current and ongoing electrical issues.

After replacing the bad fuel pump relay and the reversed-polarity battery with a Red Top i am STILL finding my truck not starting due to a dead batt more often than not. watching my Batt Volt guage while driving i can see that it aint always charging and that about 1/2 the time im sparking just off the batt. So im thinking some sort of intermittent Alternator failure? Other posibilities that come to mind are; Bad voltage regulator, grounded wire somewhere, possibly bad fusible link? (do these trucks even have one, so to speak?)

Unfortunantly im finding myself with 0 time to work on it and thus am running with a struggling unreliable truck everywhere (i rev it up before shutoff to put enough charge into the batt to start next time...dont always work) (dont worry i let it idle back down, im not shutting it off with raw fuel in there for you racers that were thinking that) Anyways, no time and a big problem. I wont have time for at least another week, and its supposed to start snowing for the next week with temps at highs of 19* YAY

Anyways, this kinda turned into a rant sorry but im pretty danged frusterated at this problem, i have a feeling if i could find a block of about 4 hours of daylight with nothing to do i could have it taken care of but that just aint possible right now, and i cant tear out the alt unless i have time to put it back in because im relying on the truck for transport everyday...

 

[subford]

Try sticking a new brush holder with brushes in the back of the alternator then.
I think they are less than $5 and only take a few minutes to change while the alternator is on the truck.
Any auto parts store should have them and if you want you can change the regulator too for a few more bucks but I think the brush kit would do it.
Sounds like that would fix it for a few years if you do not hear any bearings going bad in it.

 

[Skandocious]

Bill-- does that generation truck have an external voltage regulator? Mine is integrated into the back of the alternator. Brush holder + brushes + regulator and all in 1 piece.

 

[subford]

Bill-- does that generation truck have an external voltage regulator? Mine is integrated into the back of the alternator. Brush holder + brushes + regulator and all in 1 piece.

He should have one integrated into the back of the alternator.
I could not remember it has been a while since I replaced one but if the regulator and brushes are one unit they still only cost about $57.99 and are replaced in just a few minutes while it is still on the truck and as I recall four screws.

 

[Skandocious]

Yeah, on my truck there are 4 screws that hold the regulator onto the alternator (torx T15 or something like that). I do believe the holder and brushes may be removable from the regulator, but most people just replace the whole unit. The whole regulator with the brushes/holder costs somewhere around $90 from the dealer and a lot less if you buy one at the parts store.

Rockauto sells Motorcraft ones for pretty cheap-- somethin' like $40 or $50.

 

[subford]

O'Reilly Auto parts sells the brush assembly #GC402 for $7.99 and the regulator for $57.99 if he has the 75 Amp alternator with them built in. This is the one with four screws.

If he has the 90 or 100 amp alternator then he has an external regulator and you would have to take the alternator apart to install the brushes.

 

[Skandocious]

This is what mine looks like:

The big gray box is the regulator. After removing the 4 torx screws, the regulator comes off and I believe you can remove the brush holder, looks like this:

The brushes, when purchased from the store, look like this:

Again... This is what MINE looks like. I don't believe Scott's truck has a 3G alternator so his might be different.

 

[subford]

I just when down and took the one off my 95 3G apart, all of the screws were T20 screws and the brush holder does come off with the two screws after you take the regulator off with its four screws. One of the brushes screws is under the rubber plug (black in the above photo, mine was white).
However I do not see any way to take the brushes out of the holder, they would have to come with it.

 

[Skandocious]

I just when down and took the one off my 95 3G apart, all of the screws were T20 screws and the brush holder does come off with the two screws after you take the regulator off with its four screws. One of the brushes screws is under the rubber plug (black in the above photo, mine was white).
However I do not see any way to take the brushes out of the holder, they would have to come with it.

I think the brush connectors are glued onto the holder with some kind of epoxy or something... Best I could tell, when I had mine apart, was that you might be able to dremel away the epoxy and put new brushes in... But if it were me, I'd just replace the whole holder + brush assembly, or better yet the whole regulator.

 

[godblessmud]

Shoot i forgot about this thread and made another one about alternator upgrades..

 

[Brian_B]

A mod or admin could combign them for you. Just PM one of them.

 

[godblessmud]

10-4

Gd10cl