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1990 16v base model, 218k miles. Original problem post linked below.
First I checked all my grounds, visually checked the alt-to-starter & home made alt-to-gnd wires for breaks, & made a second alt-to-gnd wire connection. When that didn't work, I replaced the $10 VR brushes. Still no charging, so I figgerd I killed the VR when I replaced the brushes & bought a new $50 VR instead. When that didn't do it, I pulled the alt & had it tested with the new VR in it. (Hey, I needed to replace all the belts anyway....)
The clerk at Advance Auto told me it was only outputting 12v. Luckily, there's a guy selling used Saab parts in town, so I pick up a good looking $90 alt from him & run it over to Advance Auto for testing. The same clerk tells me it, too, is only outputting 12v! I look at him sideways & he says, "Maybe I have the wrong connections hooked up here...." He changes things around & now the new (used) alt is at 14v! I grab the old alt & have him retest it. It's also now at 14v! I then pull out the new VR & reinstall my $10 rebuilt VR into my old alt & have that tested. Waddaya know, 14v!! (At least I get to return the new VR & get my $50 back!) I take everything home, wondering what to do next.
While pondering my situation, I compare the two alts. The old one has 218k miles worth of wear on the commutator rings, slots maybe .040" deep. The new one has light wear on the rings, maybe only .010" deep. Then I notice that my old alt has some slight play in the bearings while the new alt has no play at all. Since I'm this far into it, I decide that it's worth the $90 to use the new (used) alt & keep my old alt (with the $10 rebuilt VR) as a spare. I put everything back together, including a new factory (10 ga) alt-to-gnd wire to replace the two home-made ones I had installed earlier. As I expected, I still have no charging.
As a final step before I have it towed 40 miles to the garage, I clean all three connections of the negative battery cable (battery, chassis & engine block), coat the three cable ends with Ox-Gard, & apply copper anti-seize (as a conductor enhancer) to the threads of the chassis & engine block bolts. Then I build a new heavy duty alt-to-gnd wire (dual 16 ga) & run that to the top of the engine. Finally, I pull off the alt-to-starter wire to clean up its connections. While it's out I check continuity on it. Damn!
It turns out my problem all along was a bad alternator-to-starter wire. (Hi Bert!) This is the heavy (10 ga) red wire in black "bendy" tubing with heavy terminal ends & clear plastic terminal crimps. Following Bentley's trouble shooting procedures, I knew I wasn't getting the right electrical reading from the this terminal on the alt, but I wasn't experienced enough to know what that meant. And during my visual checks I never gave this wire a good enough tug to break it free. The wires at the starter end were all broken thru, but the bulky plastic crimps were actually holding everything together. Several light pulls on the wire failed to pull the broken end out of the crimp, leading me to believe it was not the source of the problem. I made a heavier wire out of a scrap piece of battery cable (4 ga) & $3 cable terminals. Problem solved!
Oh well, at least I'm ready for winter. Hey Steve S, need an old alt for any of your cars? :D
posted by 71.212.223...
, Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:25:24
, Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:58:48
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