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Alternator Problem


Gt-4grey

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My alternator on my gen 5 gt4 has twice stopped charging, the problem occurs when the car has been left overnight, on the second occasion I took it to my garage to see if they could see an issue,

The garage couldn't find a problem with the alternator, although they never dismantled it, they kept it and drove it for a week and the problem did not re occur, picked up the car from the garage and drove it home without the problem happening, the car stood for three days unused, I then got in the car and started it this morning, and the alternator light wouldn't go off ! I tried running the car for a short while but it made no difference, so I'm swopping to the spare alt and see what happens, I was wondering whether the cause was moisture getting in somewhere, anyone had something similar happen to them?

 
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Started the car this morning and the charging light stayed on for about 2 seconds then went off and stayed off, ran the engine for about 10 minutes and the alternator wire stayed fairly cool as opposed to yesterday when the charging light stayed on, the alternator wire got so hot i couldnt hold on to it, anyone know what this means ?

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If you mean the wire was getting hot at the big ring terminal on the back of the alternator, this is a fairly common problem and is due to corrosion causing a poor contact. Heat is generated when you have a high resistance but still enough connection to get some current flowing.

(power = volts x amps - with no voltage drop (good connection) or no current (open circuit) there is no heat )

The problem becomes a vicious circle as the heat produced by a slightly high resistance joint accellerates the corrosion.

 

The solution is to follow the wire back into the solid loom housing that goes over the cam belt to where there has been no heating, cut the wires at this point then join on new wire & eyelet connector. Use wire (copper part) at least as big as the original and either ensure good quality crimp connections or better still solder & sleeve. (I often strip the insulator off the crimps after and then solder as well, then sleeve)

Soldering will avoid corrosion in the copper being a problem, but it also makes the wire brittle so better not to do this where there may be vibration / flexing.

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