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 thimes@jpl.nasa.gov<mailto:thimes@jpl.nasa.gov> 🇺🇸 From: DeTomaso <detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com<mailto:detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com>> on behalf of Julian Kift <julian_kift@hotmail.com<mailto:julian_kift@hotmail.com>> Date: Monday, October 3, 2016 6:57 AM To: "MikeLDrew@aol.com<mailto:MikeLDrew@aol.com>" <MikeLDrew@aol.com<mailto:MikeLDrew@aol.com>>, "detomaso@server.detomasolist.com<mailto:detomaso@server.detomasolist.com>" <detomaso@server.detomasolist.com<mailto: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 <detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com<mailto:detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com>> on behalf of Mike Drew via DeTomaso <detomaso@server.detomasolist.com<mailto:detomaso@server.detomasolist.com>> Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2016 9:11 PM To: detomaso@server.detomasolist.com<mailto: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 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