Quickstart is being a royal pain the ***. They refuse to give me a full refund because I installed the alternator. The best they can do is an "adjustment". I can't wait to see what they call an "adjustment". I'll be lucky to see half of what I paid for that turd. Still waiting on my "adjustment"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay the hell away from quickstart.

 

Can they fix it and send it back so you have a working alternator you can sell? You'll probably get more money back that way.

Sorry to hear of your troubles with them. How the hell do they expect the average joe to know if an alternator works or not without installing it? They used to be good. I'm still running one of their alternators.

 

Sorry for your trouble sir. I feel like removing the QuickStart name from my threads where I detail the installation of the "big three". I was afraid this would happen when you had trouble with the alternator out of the box.

It is a shame you have been treated this way when the alternator was clearly flawed.

 

Probably not at this point. I told them that I bought one local and had zero use for their product.

 

It sux! BUT, hopefully this thread can give folks a heads up in regards to quickstart. Leece Neville all the way... all day!!!!!

 

I forgot to mention, for those who have hood insulation, particularly the Excursion, as well as KTP made 2002 and 2003 models where the hood insulation was the thickest, you might want to file down the hard top corner of the case bolt casting that otherwise wants to dig into the hood insulation.

A corollary benefit to filing and sanding the upper case bolt casting is that the final smooth radius is a lot easier on the hands when bracing oneself on the alternator for upper body support while working over the engine.

This was something I did later, not during the initial install, so this detail isn't reflected in previous photos, but might be useful to any future reader considering this alternator.

Below it is masked for painting, with the grinding already done and self etched primed. The vacuum cap to the left is to keep the paint out of the internal threads of the case bolt casting, so that repainting after reshaping appears original, not after the fact.

 

Still nothing from quickstart. Just fired off my last and final email to them before seeking legal help.

 

Refund finally processed by quickstart yesterday evening. I sent them an email at 5:30 pm yesterday stating that I had filed a complaint through the BBB. At 6:02 pm I had an email from paypal stating that I had a refund from quickstart. Stay away from this company is all I can say.

 

It is a shame you had to go to those lengths to get your money back that you clearly deserved due to faulty equipment.

Now you can move on to the next thing in your life or on your truck knowing that the Leece Neville will probably be there for the rest of the life of the truck.

Thanks for the update and I will no longer be supporting QuickStart as it seems their business practices and parts standards have gone down the toilet.

 

If a truck has low power demands (base model XL with power-nothing) and is serviced adequately by the normal 110 amp stocker, is there any benefit to an LN in the event a new one is needed? And do you really need to upgrade the wiring if you aren’t running it hard with exotic accessories that draw big amperage? There is nothing wrong with with mine and have no plans to replace it...just trying to ascertain if this would be a suitable OEM replacement and worth the money and hassle to install. If it is better build quality and will last forever that would be a good reason I guess.

 

The short of it is: won't hurt but won't help either.

As I remarked above - and as I will unreservedly confirm after poking around in Ford's electrical diagrams - many existing 'upgraded' wiring looms could use some fixing anyways. The stock truck works OK as long as you don't mind swapping batteries (as in, right to left) fairly often and replacing them more frequently than you should as a consequence.

I outlined above one possible way of avoiding that, but with that said, the stock setup will work if you don't have (very) unusual high loads that you like to run for long periods of time with the truck idling (which is a bad idea in the first place, BTW, but that's a topic for another thread).

 

Ford appears to disagree with "won't help".

Whenever the Leece Neville 230 amp alternator (under a Ford Part Number) is field installed at a Ford dealership as a replacement or upgrade in a Ford Low Cab Forward not originally equipped with the LN, Ford REQUIRES (not "recommends", but "requires") that an upgraded wiring harness kit be simultaneously installed with the LN alternator.

This requirement exists without regard to how the truck is optioned, the number of "exotic" accessories in the trim level, or the amount of additional equipment a commercial operation may have outfitted the truck with.

The fact remains that an alternator capable of generating 230 amps of current, needs to have conductors sized appropriately to carry the current it has the potential to generate.

In a truck that has ZERO accessories, not even a heater fan or a pair of headlights, in the event that for whatever reason the batteries are drained, and the truck is jump started to get the engine running, the drained batteries will accept the current that the alternator can deliver, and the conductors delivering that current had better be sized appropriately to avoid overheating, burning, and causing a fire

Ford specifically states that the stock wiring in the LCF is not rated for the LN alternator, which is why Ford created a retrofit wiring kit to upgrade the amp carrying capacity of the conductors carrying the current from the upgraded alternator.

Automakers in general don't spend money on copper unless it is reasonable and prudent to avert claims of negligence on a known or knowable issue concerning safety. And apparently Ford believes that the upgraded wiring "helps."

That Ford took it a step further and produced the upgraded wiring, created a part number, and required dealers to use it when installing the LN in the LCF, was enough for me to upgrade my truck's wiring when installing the LN.

Before anyone asks what the Ford part number to the wiring harness is, it will not fit the 1999-2003 Super Duty wiring. Ford never released the LN for the 99-03 Super Duty. Ford released the LN for the Low Cab Forward only, hence the wiring harness is designed for the LCF.

However, the gauge size of the original LCF harness charge wires is comparable to the original 99-03 Super Duty charge wires. Since Ford deemed that gauge size not enough in the LCF for the LN, then it doesn't take an electrical engineer to figure out that the OEM wires in the Super Duty are likewise inadequate for an alternator that puts out 200% more current than the OEM alternator.

 

Bringing this thread back..........unfortunately. I have had my LN alternator and new odyssey batteries a little over a year now. I have started noticing dimming of the headlights, voltage readings all over the place and if the truck sits for a long period of time it cranks over weakly. Way too weak in my opinion for a year old LN and odyssey batteries.

I monitor voltage readings through my edge insight and a multimeter that is tied into the batteries. At idle, the edge insight reads 14.3v-14.4v while the multimeter reads 14.6v-14.8v. 14.8v seems way too high. I believe that with AGM batteries anything over 14.4 is too high and overcharging. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

While sitting in the truck with it idling and blipping the throttle, I can watch the voltage fluctuate from 14.8v (at the highest) to 13.4v (the lowest). Meanwhile the headlights are dimming as the RPM's rise and fall. This is not right. This is the same problem I had with the quickstart alternator I bought originally. I never once had a light dimming issue or voltage fluctuation issue with the original factory alternator. In fact, my original set of diehard AGM batteries went nine years with the factory alternator.

Battery cables are good. I have the LN grounded via the case ground on the back of the alternator which runs to the ground post on the drivers side battery. I also have a secondary ground which runs from one of the alternator mounting bolts and runs down to the engine ground on the drivers side.

I believe @ESwift is maybe having some similar issues as seen in this thread.......Fluctuating Voltage at idle, lights dimming, engine knock. - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums (ford-trucks.com)

I'm thinking that I have a bad voltage regulator and hoping I haven't damaged $800 worth of batteries due to overcharging.

 

Enersys (manufacturer of Odyssey and Northstar thin plate pure lead dual purpose AGM batteries) states that the IDEAL bulk charging voltage during the absorbtion phase is 2.45 volts per cell, which works out to exactly 14.7 volts, the average between your 14.6v - 14.8v readings.

Enersys also demonstrates that 14.4 volts is not enough voltage to restore their batteries, which would really like to see 14.7 volts.

Finally, Enersys is emphatic that anything over 15 volts is too high of voltage to charge their TPPL AGM batteries.

In the various phases of charging, voltages ranging from 13.4 volts to 14.8 volts are all acceptable, depending on the temperature and charging phase.

The idea that "anything over 14.4 volts is too high and overcharging" is not consistent with the Enersys guidance in their Technical Manual. If anything, 14.4 volts isn't enough voltage for restorative battery charging, but it is adequate for battery maintenance charging..

 

This is good to know. Thank you sir. The fluctuation in voltage is still bothersome to me. Especially since it's so evident in the headlights.

EDIT.. I have a heavy gauge headlight harness that bypasses the trucks main headlight wiring and is tied straight to my drivers side battery. Wonder if that's relevant