[Bucket]

Had a few troubles with my battery going flat. Bought a new supercharge one, the same as my old one (i had no idea how old it was anyway).

I put a meter on the battery terminals and it read about 12.8. Started the car up and retested and it read about 11.6

Does this mean my altenator is buggered or wearing out? I don't wanna drive to Melbourne this weekend if im gunna run out of charge.

[gypsy]

yep its stuffed

[jake_]

FYI you should be reading about 14V on the battery with the car running and a few thousand rpm (2000+)

[whincup]

idle at under 1000 but nothing electrical turned on, i read over 14...

[89_tintop]

at idle you should see 13.5v or above.. and with a load on ie. hi beam it should not drop below 13.5v....

do you have any knowledge on how to use a testlight and a multi metre?

it is fairly easy to check a alternator.

you want to access the plug on the alternator and also the main battery lead on the alternator.

using the test light with the alligator clip connected to earth make sure it lights up when you probe the main battery lead on the alternator.
if you do have voltage down to this wire then go on to the next step, if not then find out why.
probe the wires in the plug on the alternator with the ignition on. on one wire it will light up and on the other it will bring the battery light on in the dash.

if you have all this working then it is an alternators.

the above is to test an internal reg alternator with 2 wires in the plug.

[Bucket]

I ended up taking it to an auto elec and he tested it for me. 2mins later, "yep, its dead".

Ah well, time for either another reco or buy a new/seconhand one

[whincup]

all i can say is, get it rebuilt. i was told around $800 for a new suzuki brand one, $200-250 for a non genuine brand (not sure of exact price). rebuild cost was $280 including removal and refitting.

why pay that much for a starter, why risk buying a cheap brand, why risk buying a second hand one in unknown condition... get it rebuilt!

[Bucket]

I got my altenator rebuilt last winter and I think it only ended up costing me 150 or so, but the place closed down.

I can remove it myself anyway, so it shouldn't be tooooo bad.

[atari4x4]

how much mud plugging did you do since last winter?

[Bucket]

Not much, but it's my bad maintenance that would've killed it and I know it.

I'm getting over the mud a bit though. I keep looking at your trip pics up at Morgan and wishing we had some more dusty, rocky, hilly tracks.

Also, you have a PM

[Bucket]

$265.45 to get it repaired, or $360 for a new one!!!

Far out, last time I got it rebuilt it only cost about 120 or 140 including labour.

[boballan82]

The current costs for a rebuild on parts alone are

regulator $85.00
Bearings $30.00
Brushes $25.00

Then you have about an hours labour to strip and rebuild, hopoefully the slip rings are ok otherwise it is another $150.

For a basic rebuild you are up for approx $140.00 plus labour.

You can pick up a Genuine rebuilt unit for about $250.00