Killing Alternators

I have an 88 wagoneer. One of the first things I did when I bought it about 4 months ago was the alternator. I put in a bosch permium rebuilt one, and it went completely dead yesterday. No charging at all. I was thinking maybe it's because I was using an old battery on it for a months, but it wasn't garbage, I have a nautilus deep cycle in it now. Or it could have died from lots of water and crap in it maybe?

Wonder if I should buy the same thing again, or take it to a motor place and have them rebuild it better or something..? I'd rather replace stuff so it doesn't break again on the trail or in a few months. Plus its a pain in the ass to do :twak:


-Cory

If you run a new alternator on a flat battery, you're going to have a dead alternator rather quickly. The rectifier diodes usually overheat and blow out.

If you suspect a battery problem, check the battery before you blow out the alternator... Even good batteries get old.

Yea that's what I was trying to say, I think I used a crappy battery on it for first little bit before I had money to go out and buy a new battery, that maybe lead to the early failure.

Theirs nothing wrong with me running the marine battery right?

Would it be worth it for me to just have the diodes replaced somewhere?

Most all of my alternator failures have been junk under the brushes. Those that were toast were invariably from a very small coolant leak spraying on the alternator.
Pin hole leaks in my radiator, most often in the upper right hand corner under the shroud have killed some of my alternators.
I've occasionally split an alternator and cleaned the brushes and contact rings. I've more often just washed/sprayed them out with really hot water and then blown them out with air. I've done this many, many times with no ill affects I've been able to detect.
Coolant will kill them. If your alternator has had a coolant bath, wash it inside and out or I can almost guarantee you, it will toast on you. Sometimess the costing from a tiny coolant leak is hard to detect, rub your finger over the case, take a tiny taste.

haha I got it! Right before I tore it all apart I tried spraying it out with the hose, and voila....14.4v!

Thanks :thumbup: