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I'm on study leave from work at the moment, so rather than studying I am in the garage finding whatever distraction I can.
A while ago my alternator stopped charging the battery so I replaced it with another. The old one has been sitting in the garage ever since waiting for me to fix it to have as a spare.
Problem is, I know stuff all about repairing alternators! I have visually inspected it and seems ok but I have no idea what it would look like if it was stuffed. It spins freely so i doubt its as simple as the bearings.
Can anything be seen from the picture below
I've done a bit more homework and discovered:
a) the pushie in thing is a brush! b) it was well below the minimum length.
A technical manual I have suggests mininum length of brush is 10mm, mine measured 8mm. I'll chase down some new brushs and install them and see what happens. I might even remove some of the mud from it!!!!
Check that the diodes on the rectifier (the plate in the back half of the alt.) arn't burnt or loose on the plate. Regulators are dodgy on these things too.
Why do Poms drink warm beer??? Cos Lucas make refrigerators.....
Why would you rebuild a lucas alternator when you could bolt a bosch one in its place?
Pity you're that far away; I have an old lucas alternator in my garage that might be useable for spares and/or examination. It worked okay when I yanked it from the jag it was in. Only 60A so I replaced it with a 90A bosch one instead.
Lucas electrical stuff really does bite the big one; the bad reputation is justified.
A high output Bosch unit would be a much better bet. Higher output, more reliable and easy to overhaul.
Rover used Lucas and Magneti Morelli alts, both of these are crap...
