It's not that the engine isn't a good ground, the problem is the alternator case doesn't properly ground through it's bracket due to the mount design. Agreed on a bigger alternator pulley for Barry's car.
I had the chance to speak with my technicians yesterday. We have the specs for the new alternator. They're going to check with the shop they use to rebuild alternators regarding a different alternator pulley. There's enough adjustment available to account for a larger pulley and still use the same belt. Proper charging at idle is, of course, a concern. Another, shorter, ground to that 8 mm stud can only help. They also told me that the 360 Challenge had problems with excessive alternator vibration which was remedied by a modified alternator mount. Perhaps a similar solution is possible for my car.
I replaced the components today, without removing the alternator. It was pretty easy particularly with it being up on the lift. I used a Regitar RN10 and it fit perfectly and I didn't need to change the post. I also used a 126000-0400 replacement which also fit perfectly. I put a ground strap on for good measure and also removed and cleaned the ground strap at the clutch housing to make sure it was good. Running the car put out over 14volts, not running it was 12.6volts. Total of all parts was $50. Pics of course. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Your ground strap is worthless. How much amperage will a 10ga wire handle? What is that, a 140 amp alternator? Is that 10ga wire going to handle that? Also it is mounted with the nut clamping a piece of plastic to the connector. Do you really think that is a good connection? Also since you were too lazy to remove the alternator you didn't clean the mounting points and remove the corrosion at the lower bolt leaving still more inability to have any kind of ground path.. Its a time bomb and destined to fail again.
I would try to find OEM Nippondenso parts and swap out the Regitar. Myself, and a friend tried those parts and we both had failures early on. (his was actually an out of box failure). As Rifledriver hints, I would go ahead and order the factory ground strap, or make a beefier one. I had one similar to yours (probably made up when the car was still under warranty, and I simply ordered the factory strap...but similar ones can be found at most autoparts stores for much less.
Thank you. I'm going to see how the Regitar does and if I need to replace it, I'll find the OEM part which I had a really hard time locating initially. So far it seems to be doing its job, but time will tell. Either way, it's a simple job to re-perform if needed. I will order a heavier strap, I ordered the current one online and thought it was going to be heavier duty than it actually was. It looks like the alternator bracket is designed to be the primary ground, so I felt adding the strap was just for back-up. Rifledriver's tone was rude and condescending, so I appreciate your (and others) supportive advice.
So far the car is running well and holding a charge without the tender. I bought a heavy duty ground strap a few weeks ago and just got around to putting it on today. It's grounded to the subframe now. I left the old one on, so I guess it's double grounded. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I rebuilt mine insitu and henry did his a few times. Once you know its fairly easy even with jackstands.
The Regitar parts failed at about 1.5 to 2 years out. Giving me the battery light on the dash. I ended up reinstalling by good original parts. As previously mentioned, my buddy had the Regitar voltage regulator fail out of the box. The strap is not for back up...it was part of a factory update/recall around 1998 as there were charging issues with 355s.
My regitar parts are 3.5 years old and still working but I have heat shields installed around alternator and heat shields around exhaust headers. I think that makes a big differance.
Can't hurt. In my case I had oem exhaust manifolds (rebuilt by QV London). But doesn't explain the out of box failure of Regitar parts my buddy experienced. I'm still dubious of Regitar quality BTW, I found my old post on the subject....I got 3.5years, and approx. 8k miles before the Regitar voltage regulator failed.
