Truck Starter/solenoid/battery help

I was thinking it was likely the alternator... or the regulator, but I believe they build the regulators *in* the alternator these days, no?

Another symptom is I hear a whine on the radio when I turn on the lights. Sounds to me like one phase of the alternator is not working. I'll have to swap it out. Only $133 for a rebuilt one.

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Rick

Yes. The whine from the radio is a bad DIODE, common problem.

At night time if you have a GEN light, turn off the dash lights and you should see it on. Maybe. This also, depending on how bad it is, can cause the battery to run down if you don't use the truck often enough.

You can rebuild it yourself if you feel confident. You can get rebuild kits around 50 bucks.

Jamie

Ny neighbor had a Toyota truck that wasn't charging and it was a bad diode. He replaced the diode with one he had picked up somewhere and the alternator worked fine after that for several years until he sold the truck. I have personally rebuilt 4 or 5 alternators. The kits are usually pretty cheap. lots cheaper than a rebuilt. They have always been easy to fix. And even though I have bought rebuilt alternators that I had to take back because they were bad I have never rebuilt one that didn't work perfectly afterward. Eric Eric

Consider metallic ion transfer during a DC arc. It may not be unbalanced pressure causing one contact to appear to wear more than the other.

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I'm quite sure thats the cause, on the few I've changed it has always been the same contact that was nearly gone

-Lasse

I think it is the contacts, but I refuse to fix it when it is working! If it is still working without fault a month from now, my theory will be it had oil on the contacts from the dripping valve cover. Which is very interesting, because this a common problem, but I have never heard the leaking oil mentioned. Mikek

Young man, in my day it was $22 for an alternator. Mikek

PS, I remember selling gas at 18.9 cents a gallon.

I also remember my dads 51 Chevrolet pickup truck with the broken fuel gauge. He would buy $1.00 of gas every time he drove it. One day I was with him and he couldn't get the full $1 in the tank, we had quite a giggle! It had over 300k miles on it, and he painted it with a paint brush under the neighbors shade tree. :-)

Does that mean I am old too? I remember gas at 20 cents a gal. I remember one day my dad drove up to the pump and it went up to

25 cents, you should of heard him pissing and moaning! :)

Jamie

There is usually a round copper disk that moves to complete the connection between the two copper terminals. As the terminals and the disk erodes, the connection will get intermittent. As the disk rotates a bit, the contact is temporarily restored until the more worn part moves back into position.

I have sometimes in the past just flipped the disk over to get more life from the solenoid.

Yours might not be that way.

Hmmm, in *your* day are you sure it wasn't a generator? ;)

I have a friend like that. He bought a truck in 72 and just stopped driving it a very few years ago when rust had so badly eroded the chassis that he felt it was no longer worth repairing... and this guy had been a welder most of his life so that was saying something.

I remember going to see him one day and he was making an exhaust pipe for his brother. He was turning the lip where it would mate to the exhaust header. I was pretty impressed. If he didn't have a tool he needed, he would make one.

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Rick

I looked online for a rebuild kit for my alternator and I did not find any. eBay lists a couple for the 4 cyl engine in this truck, but not my

3.4 V-6. That rebuild kit didn't include the diodes anyway, only bearings and brushes. I guess I'll be stuck with buying a rebuilt one. Too bad, I would like to tear one apart.

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Rick

Yes, I see that would give me the same voltage measurement. I'll keep that in mind if the problem resurfaces.

I probably can, but it will be an non sightable connection, that connection is hidden between the solenoid and block.

Thanks, Mikek

What is the core charge? How much is an education worth?

Pretty steep, $80 I think. Why? Education is fine, but if I can't find the parts to repair it with, what can I expect to learn?

I think the diodes might be in the regulator module which may be inside the alternator, not sure. They show a picture of the regulator, but don't indicate where it fits into the bigger picture. It could still be external to the alternator, but if so it likely doesn't include the diodes.

The bottom line is I need to fix my truck tomorrow.

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Rick

Go to an auto elecric supplies place, they'll have diodes.

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no, they'll be in the rectifier module which is often inside the altenator. (if there's a fat cable from the altenator to the battery)

how fixed do you need it? if you're not using the headlights just charging it daily may be enough until you can rebuild the altenator.

you'll want fan and water pump of course, which may mean you need to put the altenator back before it's fixed.

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See S.E.B.

This :

I might have to stand corrected.

Don't discount youtube as a resource. I do't know why people post this stuff but I have found a couple of car things on it that worked.

Yeah, I typed "auto elecric supplies place" into Google and didn't find much. I did find NAPA who has the rectifier. They want $133 for an alternator or $144 for the rectifier...

I expect I'll just get an alternator.

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Rick