So first a little back story.
Last weekend I go on a run with one of the car clubs I belong to. As my partner in life rarely shows for any car club events. I get assigned by luck of the draw a navigator named Darcy. A 75 year old retired truck driver that knows every back road on the Sunshine Coast.
Needless to say, everyone told me Darcy would for certain get me lost.
We had a sheet given to us at the start. You know the one, 5.5 K's then left on rocky run road. Those type of instructions.
temps in the high 90's. Darcy has me going all over the bloody northern Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
Thank God I had a full tank of petrol.
We manage to make it to morning tea on time with the rest of group. But that's where it ends.
At our morning tea break I put on the T tops. We roll up the windows and turn on the air as we take off on the second leg. Mind you this is where Darcy decided the instructions were no fun and as he was having a blast riding along in a hotted up C3 Corvette he wanted to show me some of the nicest twisty roads on the Sunshine Coast.
(pretty nice roads I must admit).
So were having a grand time. Bullshiting about cars and motorcycles and hitting corners with screeching tires.
Then, the voltage gauge drops.
about 2 years ago I put in a American made 140 amp alternator. And my gauge always shows 14.5 volts.
suddenly it dropped to 13 volts.
We rolled down the windows and turned off the air.
Still, charging system just barely holding its own.
my experience with charging systems told me straight away that my rectifier lost one circuit. Dropping from 3 wires to 2.
I had lost a third of my Alternator.
Bummer.
as soon as I got back home from this event I got straight online and ordered a new rectifier.
All good I thought.
a day and a half later, your rectifier is on the way.
BUT, it's being shipped, "Signature required".
Signature required means that I will never see it.
because like all people that can't afford a car I sit home all day waiting for the postman to knock on my door.
No, I have a job.
So this means they will take it to the local post office for collection. The local post office in my corner of Australia is owned by a elderly gentleman and his wife.
he opens sometime after 9 and closes when he's had enough. Certainly before 5. I work 8-5 every day.
Not a chance I can retrieve it without taking time off work. And retrieving a package is not my bosses idea of a good excuse to miss work.
So, what the heck. The manual says there are no serviceable parts in the rectifier. It is replaced as a unit. But with nothing to lose. I pull it apart.

So this is what I find. The diode on the left I had already started to clean up. It was the offender. But notice that none of these have the copper strip's soldered to them.

Bit of a bugger with my at home soldering iron. But got all the contacts soldered back onto the diodes.

But now no way to reassemble. See notch upper far left. The copper contacts fit into the groves. See how I filed out the center and right groves so I could reassemble. They must solder the contacts while in place on the holder. **** way to do it, no wonder they didn't hold.

Rectifier all resoldered.

Rectifier reassembled and a couple drops of super glue to make up for the groves I filled out.


testing each diode. All good now.
Assembled alternator. Installed in car.

Volt gauge reading this evening. Whooo Hoooo!
14.5 volts again.
yup, a fair bit of time. Worth way more than a new rectifier. But it's a Hobby!
Total cost, considering I have solder and super glue around the house already. Free!
Now, cost of solder and glue. Wow, I don't know, best guess, 20 cents.
Now the real question, I didn't purchase a cheap Chinese alternator, I bought a American made alternator. Yes about 2 years old. But this is a hobby car. Not a daily driver. Very few miles of use in those 2 years. In a daily driver this wouldn't have made it 3 months. Totally **** soldering job in the rectifier.
Nothing else. Just that. Poor quality workmanship.
Yes I could fix it. Many could not. No one should have to.
Not naming names, but a company that starts with a T and ends with a F.

 

Great little piece of info there! Good job.....
Why not name the brand LOL! I have gotten a couple of **** pieces from them of the years too and quit buying them.....

Jebby

 

Even if the company sells this part, and some of it is made in USA....I would not be surprised if this sub-component was made overseas. Still.....the entire product is the responsibility of the company selling it.

 

Here I was thinking you had a 75 year old retired truck driving woman leading you astray! I thought, "What a hoot this is going to be." I guess Darcy is along the lines of Pat or Jean, Alex, or Stacy.

Glad you were able to fix it yourself; that's unknown territory for me.

 

Great story, sounds like you two had a blast that day. Having the ability to repair something like that is almost a necessity in todays world....you just never know the type of quality your going to get with that supposed "made in the USA" part......what part of the part is made in the USA?

Cheers

 

[QUOTE=4-vettes;1606275926]So first a little back story.
Last weekend I go on a run with one of the car clubs I belong to. As my partner in life rarely shows for any car club events. I get assigned by luck of the draw a navigator named Darcy. A 75 year old retired truck driver that knows every back road on the Sunshine Coast.
Needless to say, everyone told me Darcy would for certain get me lost.
We had a sheet given to us at the start. You know the one, 5.5 K's then left on rocky run road. Those type of instructions.
temps in the high 90's. Darcy has me going all over the bloody northern Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
Thank God I had a full tank of petrol.
We manage to make it to morning tea on time with the rest of group. But that's where it ends.
At our morning tea break I put on the T tops. We roll up the windows and turn on the air as we take off on the second leg. Mind you this is where Darcy decided the instructions were no fun and as he was having a blast riding along in a hotted up C3 Corvette he wanted to show me some of the nicest twisty roads on the Sunshine Coast.
(pretty nice roads I must admit).
So were having a grand time. Bullshiting about cars and motorcycles and hitting corners with screeching tires.
Then, the voltage gauge drops.
about 2 years ago I put in a American made 140 amp alternator. And my gauge always shows 14.5 volts.
suddenly it dropped to 13 volts.
We rolled down the windows and turned off the air.
Still, charging system just barely holding its own.
my experience with charging systems told me straight away that my rectifier lost one circuit. Dropping from 3 wires to 2.
I had lost a third of my Alternator.
Bummer.
as soon as I got back home from this event I got straight online and ordered a new rectifier.
All good I thought.
a day and a half later, your rectifier is on the way.
BUT, it's being shipped, "Signature required".
Signature required means that I will never see it.
because like all people that can't afford a car I sit home all day waiting for the postman to knock on my door.
No, I have a job.
So this means they will take it to the local post office for collection. The local post office in my corner of Australia is owned by a elderly gentleman and his wife.
he opens sometime after 9 and closes when he's had enough. Certainly before 5. I work 8-5 every day.
Not a chance I can retrieve it without taking time off work. And retrieving a package is not my bosses idea of a good excuse to miss work.
So, what the heck. The manual says there are no serviceable parts in the rectifier. It is replaced as a unit. But with nothing to lose. I pull it apart.

So this is what I find. The diode on the left I had already started to clean up. It was the offender. But notice that none of these have the copper strip's soldered to them.

Bit of a bugger with my at home soldering iron. But got all the contacts soldered back onto the diodes.

But now no way to reassemble. See notch upper far left. The copper contacts fit into the groves. See how I filed out the center and right groves so I could reassemble. They must solder the contacts while in place on the holder. **** way to do it, no wonder they didn't hold.

Rectifier all resoldered.

Rectifier reassembled and a couple drops of super glue to make up for the groves I filled out.


testing each diode. All good now.
Assembled alternator. Installed in car.

Volt gauge reading this evening. Whooo Hoooo!
14.5 volts again.
yup, a fair bit of time. Worth way more than a new rectifier. But it's a Hobby!
Total cost, considering I have solder and super glue around the house already. Free!
Now, cost of solder and glue. Wow, I don't know, best guess, 20 cents.
Now the real question, I didn't purchase a cheap Chinese alternator, I bought a American made alternator. Yes about 2 years old. But this is a hobby car. Not a daily driver. Very few miles of use in those 2 years. In a daily driver this wouldn't have made it 3 months. Totally **** soldering job in the rectifier.
Nothing else. Just that. Poor quality workmanship.
Yes I could fix it. Many could not. No one should have to.
Not naming names, but a company that starts with a T and ends with a F.[/QUOTE]

I only buy electrical parts from a company that starts with an A and ends with a C Delco. That's the only one that doesn't give me any problems, no matter what country of origin it actually is.

 

I don't know, I bought a delco distributor. What a hunk of junk. Spent 2 years on and off trying to get it right. Finally bought a DUI distributor. Problem solved.