Can an Alternator be repaired

Had a similar problem once I was told they can be repaired but finding someone to do it was impossible as their time is money so it is simply a case of unbolting\disconnecting and fitting a new part, job done pay me please, I believe is how it works.

If you have the time could have a go at it yourself ?

HTH

Yes, any autoelectrician will be able to recon the alternator. It's not a job you could do yourself. Very difficult to get the rotor out of the bearing without cracking the front bracket.

John

They can be repaired, but usually it's not economically viable. To strip and rebuild an alternator will generally take at least an hour, but that's provided it's a simpler design. By the time you take the price of that, the bearings, and the fact you won't get any guarantee for the alternator (except for the replacement bearings), it's far easier to fit a reconditioned alternator.

But £180 sounds over priced for something like an astra.

If you can find the right one on here, they are all about £70-£80 (poss

+VAT) for an Astra. Plus £60 if the old one is unusable in exchange, but it doesn't sound like it is.

(No connection to them, never used them, it was the first good-looking site on Google...)

I replaced the bearings in an Hitachi alternator. It turned out to be a delightfully simple and easy job, taking all of 15 minutes or so. I haven't had the need to tackle any other brand.

John

Go to the nearest scrapyard, get one for £30 and some will even fit it for you for a bit extra. The one by me will fit car parts, at your own risk of course! £180 is a bit over the top.

Go to Halfords. Have a look at Haynes' "Practical Electrical Systems"

Chapter 5 is all about basic operation, maintenance, troubleshooting, removal and installation, and overhaul in *profuse* diagrams and black-and-white photos. You can't believe how easy it is.

One important point: if the two halves of the housing ('end frames') are held together by through-bolts with special heads or rivets (photo on p.

5.8), they are the 'late' models and are not intended to be disassembled and rebuilt. (No one stops you from drilling them out though.)

If you have decided to swap for a reconditioned one, be sure the new is identical to the old: the terminals and the stamped identification markings should be the same, for example. Special tools are not absolutely necessary: the rear 'end frame' can be sandwiched between two sockets of different sizes in a vice to squeeze out the bearings. There are other tips in the overhauling task itself too. Good luck!

In message , Trevor writes

Thanks for your help and advice about this- good of you to take the time to respond

In message , John writes

Thanks for your help and advice about this- good of you to take the time to respond

In message , moray writes

Thanks for your help and advice about this- good of you to take the time to respond

Yes. Or you could buy a recon which will be less than half the cost of a new one.

I have found that Lucas parts / service centres are typically very good for this sort of thing. There is one in Grimsby that repaired an alternator for me a few years ago; where the garage was trying to sell me an alternator Lucas said I only needed a new voltage regulator to repair the candle effect that my head lamps were suffering from. Part was relatively cheap from Lucas, they fitted it for free and even ran the alternator up on the bench to test it out. Even after I had given them some extra money to go on their tea kitty it was still much cheaper (about £100) than the garage's proposal to replace the alternator

Andy

In message , Andy writes

Thanks for this advice

ramjaminn1 mumbled incoherently to the rest of uk.rec.cars.maintenance:

IME repairing an alt is a simple case of taking care to note where everything went, drifting or pulling the bearing out, and replacing it with one from an engineering supplies. Not a hard task, maybe an hours work. And likely to be ~£10 total cost. Even when I had a diode pack go on me it only cost £34.

Fine - but they don't exist anymore. ;-)