ystrdyisgone Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I just put a Maxima alternator into my 87 GL a few weeks ago. Everything worked as expected until a few days ago. Now when I start my car, the red lights on my dash stay on(charge, egr, etc) and my voltage looks to be reading just the battery. If I rev the engine to 4000, or accelerate hard, it seems to "catch" the alternator, and it begins to charge as normal. The volt meter jumps back to normal operating range and stays that way as long as the car is running. If I shut it off the process starts all over again. Any ideas? I did swap the single pulley to the double, will check tightness in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apintonut Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 That's normal alternator on its way out signs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Check the condition of the connector. If that's all good then I'd guess the alts on it's way out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashedGlass Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 (edited) As already said, check all of the wiring. Check it well. What is happening is the alt is not seeing it's "excitation" voltage (what tells it to start charging) until you give it the revs. So either there is a problem with the wire supplying excitation, or the alt is starting to let go internally. Edited April 9, 2014 by SmashedGlass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apintonut Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 or the alt is starting to let go internally. " " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ystrdyisgone Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 Well spoob, I just bought the thing. Hopefully it's just the wiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ystrdyisgone Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 or the alt is starting to let go internally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashedGlass Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 You can always take the alt to a shop and have it tested, most times for free (Autozone, Advance, O'Reilly, etc) but I'd try a non-chain mech shop if possible even if they charge you a small fee. Explain to them in detail exactly what is happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86 Wonder Wedge Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 If possible. take a compressed air can/nozzle to the back of the alternator and give it a good shot. I've found there to be 1M times more brush dust on the reman Maxima alternators than I EVER had on my stock EA82 alts. I've found the brush dust (which is conductive, think graphite) will short out the diodes and/or VR and only allow the thing to put out ~11V or worse, start pushing AC voltage (not good) I'd say it's the alternator. Also, did you use the old single V-belt pulley on the new alternator? Did you file down the spacer to maintain proper pulley alignment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallonX Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 Pulley tight? Belts tight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ystrdyisgone Posted April 16, 2014 Author Share Posted April 16, 2014 I don't think it's a reman. It's got numbers written on it with a paint pen like it was pulled off a parts car. But I'll try to blow it out tomorrow. I swapped back to my old alt for now. And no I didn't file it down at all, could a slight misalignment be causing this intermittent issue though? Yes the belts were tight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashedGlass Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 No, the belts being 'misaligned' won't cause this. What they would do is make a lot of noise. The fact that it charges fine after the first time you rev the piss out of it = a problem with excitation voltage, as I stated earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silas Cruse Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 No, the belts being 'misaligned' won't cause this. What they would do is make a lot of noise. The fact that it charges fine after the first time you rev the piss out of it = a problem with excitation voltage, as I stated earlier. Trudat ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallonX Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Have a DVOM handy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ystrdyisgone Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 What the hell's a DVOM? Haha. Digital Volt O Meter?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 What the hell's a DVOM? Haha. Digital Volt O Meter?? Close Digital Volt and Ohms Meter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ystrdyisgone Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 No, I've got a cheap one. just a needle for the readout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashedGlass Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 No, I've got a cheap one. just a needle for the readout That still works, if you know how to read the scales properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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