I just got in my REAL NIPENDENZO starter. My local auto electric guy TRIED to pawn off a cheap Chinese knock-off.
He also "rebuilt" my original alternator a few years back.....then last year the voltage regulator went.
Bottom line I don't trust this guy anymore-and I have been recommending him right and left for years....

IS there an equivillent ALTERNATOR (BRAND NEW) that would be the same quality as the REAL NIPENDENZO starter?

I'm going to buy one and keep it in the truck for when my "rebuilt" goes south.

Thanks All!!

 

I've had pretty good luck with a new NAPA unit. P/N 1N-3169. It's for a 6.0 though.

 

Leece Neville is top tier, but I did not feel paying those prices. So, when I upgraded to 930 CCA Northstar AGM batteries, genuine Denso starter and doubled up wiring I bought an American made 160A QuickStart alternator. I have been happy with the performance for the past 2.5 years.

https://alternatorparts.com/

 

Anyone have a Mean Green Alternator? (They are PRICY!!)

 

Yes. A real NipponDenso alternator. Getting one to work in the 7.3L application is somewhat tricky to DIY (voltage regulator needs to be changed, dog leg harness still must be added for D shell translation), or somewhat expensive ($600) to buy where the work was already done and the thing is sent plug and play.

Denso (short for Nippondenso, with an "s", not a "z", which might help in searching) really does have the best stator/rotor design (most efficient, highest electrical energy producing density for the form factor, with the least horsepower demand for the electrical power generated).

Second best for the 7.3L diesel application would be the PrestoLite Leece Neville Idle Pro alternator, that has the largest frame, housing the widest diameter internal fans, for the most air moving and cooling capacity, over the broadest distribution of windings, than any other alternator that will fit under hood in the available space afforded by the alternator bracket, that still must be slightly modified to accommodate the sheer girth of this 160mm diameter stator. Only the ancient Mitsubishi alternator that Ford equipped OBS and Econoline 7.3L's with the ambulance prep package during the mid 1990's rivals it in size, but that old Mitsubishi alternator has some significant drawbacks, the external fan being the most significant, along with less power output and lack of availability of parts and cores.

The Leece Neville Idle Pro was introduced in 2005, with a dozen diodes (heavier duty, avalanche type), that is configured to fit many different applications. It is a currently manufactured product, manufactured in the USA (at least it was when I bought mine), and is furthermore highly duplicated in the Chinese rotating electrical industry (imitation is the highest form of flattery... just like the copy cat clone Nippondenso starters). Of course, it doesn't help that the parent company that bought Prestolite and Leece Neville is actually based in China, so there is that too. But like Milwaukee tools, the China headquartered ownership of traditionally American manufacturing companies has not always meant the shuttering of USA operations. The Leece Neville factory in upstate New York has served as one such example.

The name Idle Pro has some functional significance... in that unlike the stock 110 amp alternator (small frame 6G), or the popular 130 to 140 amp alternator replacements (large frame 6G)... the 230 amp Idle Pro from Leece Neville is calibrated to produce nearly 100 amps just off of idle. Hence Idle Pro. Compare that with the 110 amp alternator, which only can produce 50 amps just off idle. This is very significant, because how often does typical truck use call for the engine to rev at 2,900 RPM? Because that is how most alternators are rated... at peak rpm, which isn't where the engine is running when the batteries need replenishment the most.

50 amps just off idle is simply not enough to continue to feed current to the glow plugs (for up to 3 minutes after the engine has already started) as well as replenish the batteries from the current consumed to run the glow plugs prior to start, and the starter too. So if the truck is operated on, say, a ranch, where the truck is started at the house, driven to the hay storage barn, a couple of bales thrown in the back, and then driven to the pasture to drop flakes in feed bins for the horses that day, and then driven back to the house for breakfast... all tooling around at just off idle... no battery charging of any meaningful import has a chance to take place, because the engine rpm isn't high enough to for the typical alternator to produce the current it is "rated" for.

So the advantage of the Idle Pro isn't so much that it is rated for 230 amps. It is that it has a super steep charge curve that ramps right up over 100 amps just off idle. So when tooling around the ranch in first or second gears, the Idle Pro alternator is actually doing something to make up for the cold engine start. Ford and International saw the utility of this with delivery trucks, and as such offered the Prestolite Leece Neville Idle Pro alternator as original and optional equipment in the Low Cab Forward line of cab over chassis cabs used as a foundation for city box trucks that are typically operated in short run, many stop, urban environments, rather than on highways where higher and longer sustain engine rpms are achieved.






















And speaking of OEM validation, Ford also offers Nippondenso alternators in the newer Super Duties. The excitation control, and frames of these Denso alternators are entirely incompatible with the 7.3L PSD era of vehicle wiring and PCM.

 

I remember High output alternator meets glow plugs.
Would a manual glow plug switch be advised?

 

I second this.

 

Third.

My 160 amp alternator (with both internal and external bridge rectifiers) from QuickStart has been serving me faithfully without a single glitch for almost 10 years (roughly 130,000 miles).

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post9198653

 

Leece-Neville 230 Amp as @Y2KW57 has indicated.

 

Put me down as a fourth. Since I have had duals I opted for twin 140A units (6G case).

https://alternatorparts.com/6g-serie...lternator.html

 

Yes, or something that would limit the commanded on time, the current, or the voltage that the glow plugs have access to once the engine has started. Whether that is through PCM control by way of a tuner, a voltage limiting device before or after the relay, a manual switch, or in the case of an OBS, the earlier California relays (not GPCM) that had two nichrome resistors, one for each bank... any means to reduce the internal heat that the glow plugs endure once they begin being simultaneously hit with the external heat of cylinder combustion would likely help the gllow plugs last longer, keeping them from burning out. Reps sent for the reminder.

 

I think that's called the LRC (Load Response Control).


http://www.waiglobal.com/media/wysiw...regulators.pdf

 

99-03 Super Duty trucks and Excursions do not use LRC regulators. We want IDA regulators. The D in IDA stands for Dummy. In other words, the middle pin that would otherwise support LRC in an F series regulator is a dummy pin in our wire harness. No wire, no workie. LRC has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the post of mine that you quoted.

BobcatBob was bringing up a concern specific to Beru two stage glowplugs being used by Ford as NOX emissions control devices, instead of just as glow plugs as they were originally designed.

Subsequent iteration 3 stage glow plugs were designed for this dual purpose role, but sadly, the Beru three stage glow plugs do not fit the 7.3L. Therefore, we have to be cautious how high our vehicle system voltage gets within the first two minutes of engine operations, because our glow plugs are only rated for 11 volts, as they were originally intended to be run on batteries alone. Put a 100 amp load on a pair of freshly charged batteries... and the voltage will drop to 10.5 volts. Start the truck, and keep the glow plugs on to reduce NOX, the alternator is now supplying power, but the batteries were further drained from starting, so the current is shared between the depleted batteries and the glow plugs that are still on.

A 110 amp alternator, putting out only 50 amps at high idle, struggles to meet this high current demand, feeding both the batteries and the glow plugs. So the system voltage for the first minute or two after starting remains depressed, at 11.5v to 12v and climbing. This works out great for the glow plugs, because they are only rated to 11 volts. It sucks for the batteries though. And it screws with our peace of mind, seeing only 12v, when we are looking for 14.4v charging voltage.

So we slap on a big bad boy alternator and boom, our charge meter reads 14.3 volts 10 seconds after the engine is started. The problem is, the glow plugs might remain on for as much as 170 seconds (assuming a 10 second wait to start time) after the engine has started, depending on engine oil temperature. During that 160 second on time beyond engine start and alternator ramp up, the glow plugs are now seeing 14v instead of 12v, because the big bad boy alternator is putting out enough current to power a small city, and therefore the voltage regulator can run to the governor. If the glowplugs are only rated for 11 volts, because they were designed to run on batteries and weak alternators... the extra 30% of voltage they are receiving with the big bad boy alternator could burn out the glow plugs prematurely.

That's what we are talking about here. Not Load Response Control. Our PCM's have no pin or provision to provide the feedback necessary for Load Response Control within an alternator regulator to work.

 

@Y2KW57 Thank you for that education. That one post of yours has cleared up years of confusion for me as I attempted to research how the alternators in our trucks work.

 

Sometimes (about 50% of the time) I will wait for the GPR light I installed (not the WTS light) to go out before turning the key to start.