Ditto. I put in 2 rebuilt units and they both failed. Finally bought a new one. No problem since.
"A Purple Heart proves you were smart enough to hatch a plan,
stupid enough to try it and lucky enough to survive!"
Terry W. Himes
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Dawn Spacecraft Team
Rosetta Sequence Team Lead
Phone: (818) 393-6261
Cell: (818) 653-8213
Fax: (818) 393-3147
[1]thimes@jpl.nasa.gov
From: DeTomaso <[2]detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com> on behalf of Julian Kift <[3]julian_kift@hotmail.com> Date: Monday, October 3, 2016 6:57 AM To: "[4]MikeLDrew@aol.com" <[5]MikeLDrew@aol.com>, "[6]detomaso@server.detomasolist.com" <[7]detomaso@server.detomasolist.com> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Alternator blues....
Mike, I hate chasing these type of electrical problems, but here's some thoughts; i) Battery going bad (how old is it?), requiring the alternator to have to constantly charge ii) Some alternator re builders are notorious for units failing, over a 50% failure rate is not uncommon. I had a similar issue with my GT40; on the third alternator we switched to a higher amp 'new' unit and never had a problem since. iii) It could also be an intermittent short or bad ground Julian ________________________________ From: DeTomaso <[8]detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com> on behalf of Mike Drew via DeTomaso <[9]detomaso@server.detomasolist.com> Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2016 9:11 PM To: [10]detomaso@server.detomasolist.com Subject: [DeTomaso] Alternator blues.... Hi guys, Just got home from a terrific weekend in the Sierra foothills; 24 Panteras (of the 36 scheduled) took part in the Niello concours at Serrano. It heaved down with rain for a very brief period, but that rain then turned to snow which kept the large Reno/Tahoe contingent from braving the summit. Still, a great time was had by all who attended, and we drove home in splendid sunshine. We were driving in Lori's Pantera, which has a flat firewall kit and uses a GM alternator with built-in regulator. She drove the car to Vegas this spring, and the alternator failed while we were there. At first it started acting erratic, with the amp needle bouncing around, and then finally it quit and just showed a partial discharge. Testing at the battery revealed it was doing nothing at that point. We replaced it with another one, which did exactly the same thing and failed about 50 miles from home. We replaced THAT one, and the third one has worked fine until today. But it probably only has about 250 miles on it or so. On the way home, once again, I noticed the ammeter needle behaving erratically, then it quit and showed partial discharge for many miles, then briefly came back to life and showed a very strong charge (since we had been running on battery power for awhile), then discharged again. Methinks the problem is not simply that alternators are failing, but rather that there is some sort of fault in the electrical system. As electrons are far from my strong suit, I hesitate to start diving it to it blindly. What say all of you? FWIW we've got a spare alternator we will be installing tomorrow, which almost assuredly will work just fine...for awhile anyway???? Mike
References
1. mailto:thimes@jpl.nasa.gov 2. mailto:detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com 3. mailto:julian_kift@hotmail.com 4. mailto:MikeLDrew@aol.com 5. mailto:MikeLDrew@aol.com 6. mailto:detomaso@server.detomasolist.com 7. mailto:detomaso@server.detomasolist.com 8. mailto:detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com 9. mailto:detomaso@server.detomasolist.com 10. mailto:detomaso@server.detomasolist.com _______________________________________________
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My first suspect would be HEAT. Google shows two different external fans, one being more air flow than other. At idle with lights on, slight discharge; the alternator would be getting its hottest due to high current/low speed with the least amount of speed for the cooling fan. Putting a temporary temperature gauge on the housing would let you know, my first google for acceptable temperature has not provided a value, BUT several mentions of temperature, low speed high current causing rapid failures. IF (hopefully WHEN) I get a running Pantera, looking into providing cooler air to the alternator will be something I hope I remember, mayby some type of shielding/ducting AND just because I think it is needed, a grounding strap from alternator to chassis wouldn't hurt. When I get time I'll search more on alternator temperature range. Joe -----Original Message----- From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com] On Behalf Of Mike Drew via DeTomaso Sent: Monday, October 03, 2016 12:00 PM To: Himes, Terry (397C) Cc: detomaso@server.detomasolist.com Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Alternator blues.... All, Further to my original inquiry, I failed to mention that this is a GM alternator with built-in regulator, running in the stock three-wire configuration. Normally it works normally--shows a somewhat strong charge for a short time after engine start, coming back down to slight charge when battery is 'full' again, with slight discharge at idle when fans, lights etc are on. When it starts acting up, initially the needle bounces erratically over a small range between slight charge and slight discharge. After a few minutes of that, it goes into greater discharge mode as it quits completely. Mike Sent from my iPhone On Oct 3, 2016, at 8:15, "Himes, Terry (397C)" <terry.himes@jpl.nasa.gov> wrote: the links above.
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