Or so I like to believe. Reality seems to give rise to another possibility…
So I drove Isabel to work yesterday for the first time since winter and since it was warm (over 60). Besides the stereo cutting out worse than ever before (which I thought I had licked), everything seemed normal. Normal that is until I stopped to fill the tank on the way home. Went to start it after fueling and DEAD! WTF!!?? Looked things over and seemed as though the battery was indeed dead. So I asked the gas attendant (we cannot be trusted to pump our own fuel in NJ) for a jump. He said okay, but I had to push Isabel out of the fueling area (fair enough). I had cables, jumped the car and high-tailed it home as I watched the gauges indicate lower and lower and prayed that my MSD 6AL would not crap out on the low battery voltage. Made it home and put her in the garage, went in and let the dogs out. Came back and by that time it occurred to me that I had noticed (what seemed to be) the alternator (Tuff-Stuff 70A chrome jobbie) had been making a ticking noise recently when I took the car for a test drive to see how the 4 wheel discs and adjustable prop valve were working. The next time I had a chance to work on the car, the noise had gone away and so did my curiousity! Could this be the problem? Seems like more than a coincidence. So I yanked the alternator (in my work clothes, LOVE working on a clean car!) and popped it in half. What do I see? One of the 1/4" head machine screws that hold the brush holder is out of its hole and embedded into the holder right next to the upper brush, as if someone had screwed it in there! No marks of any kind on the screw and had to unscrew it out of there, weird. The brush holder might have been useable but was kind of messed up. I have at least 4 core alternators so I went a pillaging! Anyway, put it all back together after cleaning up the damage and checking the stator? (I think that is what the rotating part is called) for shorts in the winding. Put it back in and started the car, ammeter shows - amps, GD’it! I think the screw shorted the commutator ring out before it got embedded, I saw a small dent in the field terminal ring. Which likely means a fried Standard Motor Products VR-166X electronic regulator with AMK repro concours cover! GD’it! Oh well. Going to full field the alternator when I get home to make sure and then (if my suspicion is right) make my best coupon/discount deal on an Advance BWD R400 (same part as SMP VR-166X) and switch over my concours cover (hopefully without busting up the cover rivets!).
Guess the upside is I did not have to be flat bedded home with my Hagerty towing coverage and I was not on my way to or home from Carlisle or some other show, but I was not all that pleased with my ride home yesterday! Another upside is that my stereo does not have a problem, it was just shutting down due to low voltage! Although I like my ammeter, guess this is an argument for having a voltmeter.
Sounds like you had a heck of a ride. Glad you made it home. I would freak out if I got stranded on the side of the road. I’ve got the towing thing covered, just the thought of having to wait on someone else to bring your classic home is terrible. At least to me.
Steven
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Bob it sounds like you have an awesome set of tools. You should be a TV repairman.
Fast Times!
Waiting on tow trucks is no fun. Had to wait an hour and a half when I busted a rocker arm. (Now I keep 2 extra rocker arms with me) I guess there were a lot of people breaking down that day. When my Saturn took a dump last weekend the tow truck was there before I hung up the phone on them haha! But anyway. Glad you got that solved. I had a brand new battery die on me because it sat while I was doing all my suspension and motor work. After forking out another hundred bucks for a new one I make sure to take care of it. I’ve also broke down at the pump before. But was because of vapor lock. Got that solved.
Seems as though I missed something pretty obvious in the alternator (besides the brush holder problem). When I full fielded the alternator, the field took the current as evidenced by the spark of the clip lead I used to jump the A and F terminals of the voltage regulator connector, but no current out of the alternator, still on the - side of the ammeter. A double edged sword. So the solid state regulator is probably still good, but the alternator is not. So back out the alternator came. Popped it in half again. Looked a little closer, which revealed four out of six diode leads were broken/burned off the crescent diode plates! “Tuff-Stuff” my a$$!!! So I had two still connected on the positive, output side and none on the negative, ground side which would equal no output from the alternator. Thought about pillaging the alternator cores some more, but the diodes still tested good, the wheels in my head started turning. The broken off leads from the diodes were kind of corroded/burnt from arcing so I harvested some ground wire out of a hunk of 14-2 W/G Romex that was laying nearby in the mess of a basement where I was working. Cleaned the arced up terminals of the diodes that were missing the leads on the wire wheel and warmed up my Weller soldering iron. I then applied a generous amount of solder to each terminal and holding the long ~4" piece of #14 copper wire in place, I flowed/soldered it firmly into the mound of solder I put on the diode contact. Then, after it cooled, I cut the wire to the right length and moved on to the next broken diode. Once these 4 diodes were repaired, I carefully cleaned the solder flux off (can’t help myself, neatness counts) and prepped the output coil leads to be re-attached to the 6 diode leads. Soldered up those suckers and put the alternator back together in no time. Slapped it back in the car, plugged the regulator back in, said a prayer and fired up the almighty Cleveland. Wham! The ammeter deflected to the + side in a big way! I haven’t seen it this far right in a long time, think I lost these diodes one at a time, reducing the output slowly over time and so the car has been running on less than a full battery for a long time. This could explain a lot of things, wonder if the engine will run better now? The stereo now KICKS A$$, much to my delight! Listened to a tune or two at a bodacious volume, put the cover back on Isabel, the lift back up and Mustang GT 'vert back underneath. Went in and fed the pups.
Glad everything seems good. If you were running on a low battery for that long you should see a boost in power. Nothing beats good tunes and listening to them in a fine car.
Steven
