[DeTomaso] Alternator blues....

[Forest Goodhart]

Is it wired so that the indicator light in the speedo works? Are you using the external cooling fan on the alternator?
Forest


      From: Mike Drew via DeTomaso <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com>
 To: detomaso at server.detomasolist.com 
 Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2016 9:11 PM
 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

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-------------- next part --------------
   Is it wired so that the indicator light in the speedo works? Are you
   using the external cooling fan on the alternator?
   Forest
     __________________________________________________________________

   From: Mike Drew via DeTomaso <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com>
   To: detomaso at server.detomasolist.com
   Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2016 9:11 PM
   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
   _______________________________________________
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   list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive
   or approve the archiving of list messages.

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