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1992 200Tdi 90 - Alternator died??

Hi all,

My 145,000 mile 1992 200Tdi has decided to stop charging the battery.

It has the Magnet Margelli alternator type (dated 11-92), not the servicable Lucas one.

I have never had any problems with it not starting and it always used to fire up very quickly, until about a week ago when I noticed that it was taking a couple of extra cranks to fire up. Now it dont do jack!

If I jumper it off it starts up fine, battery light goes out straight away but volt meter across the battery only reads about 11.9V even when revving hard so I guess its not charging.

Any ideas?

I did give it a good thrashing round the off-road course 3 or 4 times at Driffield but it was cranking over slower before that - Water damage the final straw???

The back of the alternator has 3 wires to it, I thought about making sure that the smallest wire (assuming this is the switched live to energise the coil) has 12V to it. Assuming it has (I'll check tonight), any other thoughts or is it a phone call to buy a new one?

Thanks Jon

Reply to
Jon
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V8 V8 give me more, Jon quad

40s, foot to floor...

Don't know the alternator offhand, but MVM (my variable milege) suggests regulator sounds stuffed - (from info above). Can you pull regulator? It may be part of brushes setup. If you can, try finding out price of replacement. If it's cheap enough, I'd buy one anyway. If it solves problem, great, If not, it's always a spare for your replacement... Of course, this is assuming the alt. spins over. If it doesn't, MMI (my mileage indicator) is a smoky belt...

Reply to
weallhatebillgates

If it's like my alternators on 200tdi disco & defender it is actually a Lucas alternator despite having Magnet Marelli on the casting, there will be

3 screws at the rear of the alternator allowing you to extract the diode pack & brush unit. From what you describe the brushes have worn out, these cost under £3 the pair if you are willing to play around soldering them in place otherwise replace the whole diode pack unit @ £12ish. Both mine went around 120-150k miles and replacing the brush/diode pack has brought them back to a charging voltage of over 14.6V at idle.

My friend's alternator went on his 200tdi Defender at the weekend, at tixover quarry, I think the water and grit just deals the final blow to the alternator brushes

Hope this helps, Fergus

Reply to
Fergus Kendall

Water and grit can do a lot more than just finish off the brushes. I don't know how big a job it is to clean out, but there are alternator specialists who can do a complete strip-down and rebuild.

Reply to
David G. Bell

I have found that Tixover mud and water can be very destructive

-- Simon Isaacs

Peterborough 4x4 Club Vice Chairman and Webmaster

3.5V8 100" Hybrid, now LPG converted Part owner of 1976 S3 LWT, currently under restoration Suzuki SJ410 (Girlfriend, at the moment......) 3" lift kit fitted, body shell now restored and mounted on chassis, waiting on a windscreen and MOT Series 3 88" Rolling chassis...what to do next Pug 106 (offroaded once!!)
Reply to
Simon Isaacs

Fergus, Many thanks for the reply.

At the risk of sounding stupid, where can I get some brushes from? Are they the sort of thing that Paddocks / John Craddocks stock or some independant garage / auto-electric place?

Presumably I should buy bushes for a Lucas alternator and not Magnet Marelli?!?!?

Thanks Jon

Reply to
Jon

You'll have to get the parts from an autoelectrician, I couldn't find them anywhere else. I'll take some pictures of the alternators I have in pieces and email you the pictures with a description of what to do.

Fergus

Reply to
Fergus Kendall

OK, Success!

I removed the alternator, and the 3 studs holding the diode pack / brushes in.

On rermoval the copper rings on the spindel where covered in mud and the bushes stuck up in their housing (again with mud). I cleaned the copper rings and brushes housing, re-soldered the copper braid to one of the brushes (that i broke!), put back together and hey presto 13.6V at the battery at tickover!

Excellent. thanks for all the tips.

Jon

Reply to
Jon

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