Alternator

[FI Spyder]

A couple of months ago when I put up my lights coming home from a car club meeting, the alt. belt started squealing on acceleration. Next morning, sure enough, the belt was loose so tightened it up. Next month had a squeal when downshifting for a corner. Next morning, checked it out and although the belt was still tight I could turn the alternator pulley (with some difficulty). Time for new belt. Took it in and counter person matches it up and says "right length but wider", the old one had worn down (still looked good). We all know the belt should ride on the sides, not in/on the V but this is the first time I actually ran into the problem. maybe I normally change out the belts before they wear. It was a Quinton Hazel so maybe that has something to do with it. The USA made Gates will last longer (9 years/24,000 miles).

Last night the Voltage gauge dropped down from it's 5/6th spot to 1/4 on the gauge. At night the lights weren't as bright and the turn signal was slow, dash lights dim but I made it home OK (70 Km). Now I know what these guys are talking about (dim lights/slow turn signals/dim dash lights). I haven't investigated yet but it might be time for Saturn upgrade rather than rectifier/voltage regulator repair. We'll see.

When fitting V pulley to Saturn alternator is there any concerns re spacing to keep it aligned to crank pulley?

[HDRider]

I have fitted quite a few Saturn alternators. Generally I reuse the Lucas pulley which means that the center hole has to be opened up. As I have a lathe this is not an issue. I generally turn a bit of the back off of the pulley to get it closer to the face of the alternator. That usually is close enough for the pulley to line up.

I have also used an American car pulley, Ford or Chevy will fit. You can reduce the thickness of the spacer to help line things up.

Alternatively you can shave a bit of the alternators mounting lug to move it back a bit.

My recollection is that the pulleys are about 1/4" out of line if you do nothing which is not that big a deal either.

You will need to keep the belt quite tight or the belt will slip under high amperage usage.

I have replace the main feed wire with a heavier one in a couple of cars but have not had an issue in the ones where I used the original wire. It is a bit undersized for the output of the alternator but unless you are running a lot of additional load the alternator will never really work that hard for very long. We ran the one in the wife's commute car for about 70,000 miles on the original wire with no issues.

Edward Hamer
Petaluma CA

[John_C]

I have an uprated Lucas alternator on my car. Doesn't make a damned bit of difference.

[Hasbeen]

My 7s battery was losing charge while driving with a fully reconditioned stock alternator, after I fitted the air conditioning. Even before that it could not drive lights, wipers, radio & ventilation simultaneously.

Found a kit with an 85 amp alternator from a Brisbane Triumph specialist. It has made the world of difference to my lights, indicators, wipers, & battery state.

Hasbeen.

[FI Spyder]

I was perfectly happy with the alternator I had (presumably a 25R with A/C) as it consistently gave 14.75 volts with plenty of oomph for bright lights, good signals, heater fan even with everything running but nothing lasts forever. Can't wait for rectifier and regulator so have a Saturn alternator coming in this morning. If I can get a V pulley I should be good to go. If there are any hiccups I have a spare small alternator I can put together or the one from yellow TCT packed away somewhere I can use to get the car ready for club event tomorrow. Stay tuned.

[FI Spyder]

Got the Saturn Alternator but they didn't order the pigtail. As the suppliers computers are down over the weekend I decided to put the alternator in from the Yellow TCT. The alternator I pulled out of the Spider was different. It wasn't the 65 amp one like I expected (with A/C) but had the back cover of the 17ACR but the blades of the rectifier where different from the TCT one and the spare that came from a 30th Anniversary. The wires were custom modded to fit it. I used the pigtail from TCT similar to what I will have to do with the Saturn. Don't know what car the alternator (it is Lucas) came from but I don't think it's original. The previous owner said the car only let her down once but didn't know what they did to fix the problem, maybe this was it. Anyway got it going to make the club event at a winery (Wine, Women and Wheels) albeit a few hours late. The acapella singing group was good and it was only a few miles away. Waiting for pigtail.

[FI Spyder]

Another curiosity of the alternator was the blades and their position of the rectifier. Small blade at the top which was the brown/yellow exciter line coming from gauge/light , middle thick brown wire (going to battery) was large blade, lower thinner brown had small blade. This was different than the other two alternators which had large blade smaller brown wire at top, large blade middle was thick brown wire, bottom was small blade brown/yellow exciter wire. In other words the thin brown/yellow wire and thin brown wire were in reversed position and the blades from top to bottom was thin/wide/thin vs. wide/wide/thin. Anybody come across to these different rectifiers?