Well, just got my alternator back from the shop.
The symptoms:
1. Dash light staying on too long until engine was rev'd when first
started. Kept taking a higher rev to get light to turn off.
2. Noise coming from engine area sounding like a squirrel in a hamster
cage exercise wheel.
3. Dash light glowing dimly at night while on the road.
The findings:
1. Rear bearing had spun on rotor shaft, making things very loose.
2. Rotor halves had been hitting/rubbing on the stator.
3. Rotor fingers (V-finger-things) had rotated on one end up against
the other sides fingers.
4. Some other misc related electrical damage due to things seizing and
banging around.
5. Somebody had also painted the windings with blue paint to make it
"look" like it was rebuilt.
The result:
1. I should now have a good reliable alternator, and will find out later
how good it is.
The moral:
If something sounds like a rabid squirrel trapped in a hampster cage,
check your alternator. :)
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And for the record, I don't know that much about alternators, so by my
definitions: The rotor is the round drum wound part that falls out, the
stator is the negative image winding left inside the alternator housing
when everything else fell out.
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The recommendation:
When you put an alternator back in, put the bolts in from the correct
direction so that the next one to remove the alternator does not have to
also remove the radiator to get the alternator pivot bolt out.
Mike (alternating) Jaquet
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