I have an 89 E-350 cube van w/460
Its not charging at all, I pulled the alternator out and had advanced auto check it out. He said it was good, bought a new belt. Cleaned the plugs going into the alternator and reinstalled. Still not charging. Battery is new last month. Any help would be appreciated.

Rick Sweares

 

What makes you think it isn't charging ....are you assuming by the gauge ?

 

Battery went dead.... had to get a jump..... charge it up and when I reinstalled the alternator, started it up turned all the lights on, battery went dead again, gage said it was discharging.

 

I'd take the alternator to another shop. Preferably one that deals mostly with auto alternators. I've had them misdiagnose problems before at Advanced and Autozone. Being an 89, I'm familiar with these alternators quite a bit and it's usually the reg pack which is built onto the alternator. I can now swap alternators fully in 15 mins. because I've done it so much with my 3 current Fords. I finally got a better voltage reg from a reliable local guy that only deals in starters and alternators and they've been fine ever since. My rebuilt unit from Autozone went out just a few months after the warranty went out. I think the reg. pack only cost me $15 and I put it on myself.

 

One thing that has to be remembered is:
Don't think that the alternator is supposed to charge a flat battery.

It is always better to charge a battery with a charger then install it in the vehicle for the alternator to just *Top it Off*

 

Well, it just didn't make sense, when Advanced Auto said the alternator was good. I checked all the wiring and everything looked good. So I took it back out and went over a few towns to a small starter & Alternator shop.... his machine said it was good also. but than he said that don't mean nothing... so he poped it open and right away he could see some problems... 15 minutes later and $25 buck.... reinstalled and charging like a charm.......

What can I say but THANKS!!!!!

 

Ya, those specialtly shops can only survive if they've got some smart guys there. Everytime I go into my local Autozone or Advanced Auto I see completely different faces, and most are female. Not that a female can't know about cars but when my local Autozone has 3 females standing around doing nothing and 1 male taking all the real auto questions it makes ya wonder.

I had my alternator checked at Advanced while it was still installed. This guy says rev it to 2000 and hold it. I said how the heck am I going to hold 2000 when I don't have a tach. How many friggin' people that come in there are going to have a tach? He finally was able to figure it out and it showed a bad diode.

 

yea
I went in to advanced Auto yesterday looking for a water pump for my father-in-laws wood chipper, 79 motor stright 6, industrial engine.... the kid went nuts... looking in his computer taking out these pumps that looked nothing like it, finily signed.. and had to look for the books... I had the ford part number. He looked for 5 minutes just for the right book. Look at me and said I can't find the book. If its not on their computer they are lost.
I went across the street to a rebuilder small auto supply. real small place they do heads and blocks and have a small supply of parts.... they looked in about 10 books crossing number and came up with the same one 31.00 and didn't have to go to the dealer.... sometimes I really miss the old auto suply stores...

Again thanks for the help

Rick Sweares

 

The one guy is right...an alternator is not meant to fully charge a dead battery.....an alt. is made to "maintain" a battery.....so if you ever have a dead battery..and you get a jumpo.and never recharge the battery..you are losing the life of the battery......you should always charge it over night the same night..and just a little tidbit.about battery's...leaving a battery on a cement floor will not kill a battery.....you can leave it on cement...wood......dirt..whatever you want...none will drain a battery.....the reason a battery can sit and go dead..is if there is moisture on the top..and the moisture goes from terminal to terminal..that will make a connection..and drain it...but setting on certain survices will not drain it...it is a myth.old wives tale.....

-All caps removed by admin-

TY,
WOODY

 

That's a new one on me. I've never heard any wive's tale about not putting a battery on cement.

Moisture doesn't drain a battery either. There's just too much resistance for it to make any significant connection. All batteries will slowly discharge themselves. It's just part of being a battery.

 

If there is a little battery acid and grime on the top of the battery, there can be enough current through that to drain a battery if it sits long enough. If the battery is clean and dry, no drain. Clean, pure water is is a good electrical insulator. The key word is pure. Once you have any minerals in the water, it starts to conduct.

As far as batteries on concrete being an old wives tale... it's not but old habits die hard. At one time batteries were made with hard rubber cases. Some large commercial batteries still are. Those batteries would drain when sitting on concrete. The newer batteries with the plastic cases won't have the same reaction when sitting on concrete. I will still set a battery on a board if the floor is dirty so that there won't be any abrasion but I don't worry about drainage.

 

macguyver, You are the man, that is a 100% correct answer. Back to that alternator problem though, as a small one man rebuilder, this voltage regulator in this particular alternator will start charging at 10.5 volts. So your battery can have a shorted cell and try to recharge the battery. Second problem with this alternator is the brushes, once they are worn down they no longer make contact inside at the rotor slip ring area and no charge results, If brushes are installed into the 2G alternator, it should by rights have at least new slip rings installed on the rotor shaft or the rotor needs to be replaced. Third item is after the rebuilding of this unit and a rectifier has been installed, the three stator leads MUST be soldered to the rectifier or it will start a fire at the rectifier plug. Just my .02
Million, you are keeping your self busy, I used to sign in as Electric1

 

A few more things to add here...

The batteries sitting on cement would often draw enuf moisture up thru the cement to keep the grime on top of the battery moist so it would conduct current. The battery sitting on a cold floor can also draw enough moisture out of the air to do the same thing. The old wives tale had a portion of truth to it.

The older batteries also were not the "maintenance free" types and during charging they "smoked" or "steamed" with some of the acid escaping from the cells. The newer batteries stay much cleaner on top. I still have old scars on my fingers from acid that I got checking hundreds of the old type batteries every day at a "Service" station

The newer small frame alternators will put out large currents for a very short time. The heatsinks for the diodes are just not HD enuf to provide the current required to recharge a battery. The diodes have improved over the years also and they give the units a higher current rating.

 

Need more proof from the source I see, The concrete thing is a wives tale and big time, I asked that same question about 7 years ago to my battery supplier, he noted back that the Co. he delivers for places ALL of there batteries on concrete on the ground. Reason being, The ground temperature is a constant 55 degrees they don't have to worry about temperature fluctuation, so as far a cold ground is concerned there is the arguement to place against, now as far as holding grime on top of the battery, why not wipe the grime off, how does the grime get back on? Does it pull it out of the air? And smoking batteries is because back in the early days of automobiles they set up chargers or generators on cars, mechanical voltage regulators improperly adjusted, sticking, bad cables, ect, ect., that just produce a higher than needed amount of voltage and the amperage follows, therefore smoking the battery, you can still today smoke a battery with todays charger, in fact how about blowing it up, todays alternators will smoke a bad battery, Ford knows this also, Try this decision on for size about concrete and batteries, place lead acid batteries on wood for the sole purpose of being able to soke up any acid droppings on the battery, if it gets onto concrete it will continue to eat the concrete indefinetly, I don't care how much you wash the concrete. I have proof of that also.

 

I have a 72 f-250 4wd that wont charge I have tryed every thing new altenator vole ragulator and a wireing if I bypass the ragulator the altenator charges but with the ragulator in place it doesnt it its like what ever tells the alt. to turn on itnt doing its job