OT Busch Race!

From : roy

Q: this is a diagnostic report sheet from a different problem though isnt it its possible you have an intermittently bad diode. but you dont know for sure if the problem isnt repeatable. --scott -- cest un nagra. cest suisse et tres tres precis. agree scott. i dont think that anyone has mentioned yet that diodes can fail in either of two modes....shorted or open. and either can be permanent or intermittent. the consequences of those failure modes can present different symptoms. either should be easy to diagnose if you have the ideal equipment which most of us do not. .

Replies:

From : ralph

sorry wrote sorry to keep bugging everyone about this but i just dont know. 77 dodge van 318. on startup ammeter needle swings from full charge to midrange. loud squealing when ammeter needle swings to full charge. noise goes away after engine warms up. i think i tried tightening the belt long time ago and made no difference. visual inspection of belt appears ok. it is one of those kind that is serrated on the pulley side but no glazing or obvious wear. looking at a shop diagnostic report sheet from long ago it is somewhat illegible but says under alternator output bad dode stator which i guess legibly written means bad diode stator would this cause the noise the belt looks ok and i brought the alternator down to autozone for them to test on their machine. test said it was ok but mgr. there said it was probably a bad diode in the alternator. so what to do. do you believe the test or do you believe the manager. it would seem to me that if they have a machine to test alternators it would be able to detect a bad diode. should i buy a new alternator and see if the noise disappears what is the noise your description leads one to believe the noise is the belt slipping. if that is where the noise is coming from it is unlikely to be a bad diode. by now one would guess that you have probably overtightened the belt so the belt being too loose can be ruled out. if your gauge truly measures amps then it is normal for the amp rate to go high after starting. it may be that it always did exactly what it is doing now - only you never noticed because there was no loud squeal to draw your attention to it. or it could be that it is now charging more than it used to because of a bad starter or bad engine or some other unknown draw on the battery that requires a lot of amps to restore the battery. a weak diode could be draining the battery. another possible cause of the problem is a bad belt or the wrong belt for the application. i assume this is a v-belt so the cause could be a worn pulley given that the vehicle is 30 years old. if the pulleys and belt dont fit together as designed you can get the symptoms you describe. -jim ----== posted via feeds.com - unlimited-unrestricted-secure usenet ==---- http//www.feeds.com the #1 group service in the world! 120000+ groups ----= east and west-coast server farms - total privacy via encryption =---- .

From : kens

tbone tbonenospam@nc.rr.com wrote in they probably didnt answer because you didnt give enough information. exactly what year and size alt. different years use different color wires but in this case i dont think that it really matters and the field wires should be interchangeable. sorry it is a 77 b-100 1/2 ton tradesman van. i think the alternator is the smaller 65 amp one double grove pulley. does that help i guess i really do not understand why they color code the wires if they are interchangeable and seems i remember something about polarizing the alternator which would im guessing imply they are not they are color coded because they do different things. one is the 12v feed wire and the other is the ground which is controlled by the regulator. if they were the same color it would be near impossible to diagnose a wiring problem with the alternator. the alternator in your vehicle has isolated field windings and as such the wires are interchangeable. if they needed to be connected to a specific terminal the connectors for each terminal would be different and the two wires would only fit one way. isolated had nothing to do with it ignoramus polarity is what matters glad to see youre still around spouting off your stupidity and that its still very easy to bitch slap your ignorant ass into next week .

From : roy

they probably didnt answer because you didnt give enough information. exactly what year and size alt. different years use different color wires but in this case i dont think that it really matters and the field wires should be interchangeable. bullshit hook em up one way and it charges hook em up the other way and it discharges try it and watch the fucking gauge you ignorant twit .