I went to get Mum from the hospital last night in the dear old Rover
218SD (93, 180k, 1900 non turbo) and when we went to leave I noticed the ignition light was on all the time?
I checked the belt and wires and all seemed intact so we carried on and it happily took us to Tesco and another stop on the way home (about 15 miles in total).
So, a mate has suggested about £115 for a replacement but before I do that is there anything else we need to check and/or is there anything I could replace on the alternator (diodes / regulator?) before splashing the cash please?
First check the alternator is actually faulty - I've known the warning light circuit itself just to be the problem. Do this by measuring the voltage across the battery with engine stopped and running. When running the voltage should go up by at least 1 volt to roughly 13.5-14.5v.
It's near impossible to test a regulator or rectifier pack at home except by substitution. And buying both on spec might well cost about the same as an exchange unit.
It's well worth phoning round for a replacement - they vary enormously in price. A genuine Bosch or whatever might easily be 3 times the cost of a pattern unit. Try a motor factor or independant spares place first.
Yes, Paul, at £115 that would be £15 more than I paid for the Rover 4+ years ago. ;-)
I had checked all the connections were ok in Tescos car park last night and the fault had come on quickly and solidly so I assumed it was something pretty 'final'.
Anyway, it started this morning and I ran it round to Mums then took her over to the hospital in their Meriva (higher seats than the more 'sporty' Rover ) but he'd had a downturn so I was sent home again, swapped the cars back over and took the Rover round to my mates garage.
We checked that it wasn't outputting anything then I whipped it out and a replacement (exchange) was found and delivered for 65 quid?
I popped it back in and no ignition light (and the rev counter was working again).
Isn't it nice working in a nicely lit fully heated workshop with boxes of Snap-On tools at hand .. (spoiled or what) ;-)
I would have liked to have stripped, cleaned and repaired the old alternator but as was mentioned the parts may have been the best part of the cost of this exchange unit and I doubt I'd have got it back on the road so quickly.
All the best and thanks again ..
T i m
p.s. While we were waiting for the alternator man I finished cleaning up the ally wheels for my CB 'Two Fifty' (ready for my mate to spray). I need to get back on the road ready to chaperone our 17 year old now she's passed the CBT....
Plus the bearings packing up two months later will leave you weeping in frustration :-) Oh for the days when I could get ACR17s for £15 ea. Thereagain I used to buy so many I could normally fix half of them from the dead ones in the shed (The Capri used to snap the mount lug rendering the carcass valueless) so maybe things have improved.
Oh indeed .. and like I said to my mate afterwards, at least I have a new alternator now ... (1 less thing to go wrong etc).
Or Champion spark plugs for 50p ;-)
Yep, that's the other thing .. having some experience with the insides of anything helps. A mate had a 17" TFT screen die the other day and before he threw it away I suggested we opened it up. It looked (to me) like it might be the inverter board as the screen lit up for a second or two on power on. I found a brand new replacement inverter on eBay for £20 inc shipping (from Germany) and a few days later he has a working screen again.
As, you say .. for how long though ... and with new 17" TFT's well under £100 etc. But, it may well work for a long time .. making it a cheap monitor .. and the reason we often like to fix our steeds ourselves ... (even if we have to spend 65 quid on a £100 car) ;-)
I had to do it though .. I'd just spent £9 on oil filter, air filter and oil, a bit of welding on the exhaust downpipe and a couple of hours turning up nylon bushes and spacers for the front gear-linkage joint so the gear stick wouldn't flop from my knee to the passengers .. ;-)
Bollocks. Basic electronics knowledge (_very_ basic) and a £3 DVM from Netto will diagnose diodes. If you have to remove and dismantle the alternator you're still only looking at 1/2 hour or so, which is worth £115 of my time.
Not all diode packs allow access to the individual diodes.
However, pratting around trying to find replacement parts ain't easy and may well be impossible in some places - whereas an exchange unit should be easy enough to come by. With a warranty.
Tim actually found one for 65 quid. Last time I bought a regulator it was
So unless penniless and you have unlimited spare time not really worth the bother of fixing it.
As mentioned it's sorted now but are the typical diodes found in alternator rectifiers yer normal wire ended jobbies (fairly easy to get) or stud mounted type (less easy / more fussy)?
As you say, diagnosing a bad diode is easy enough (in most cases) and I could probably even do a regulator with all the kit I have (variable V/I bench PSU's, DMM's, DC Ampere clamps and 12V batteries etc) but getting a replacement (when things come as 'modules' rather that d_i_y sub components these days)?
It's all right for us, most of us can do jobs of varying degrees of complexity on cars and components, but for practical purposes it's best to simply change an alternator when it's not charging, for one or more of the following reasons.
Most people who come here to ask for advice do so because they don't have the technical knowledge themselves.
If they do have the knowledge, most of them won't have the tools or equipment.
If they do know how, and they do have the equipment, most motorists won't be able to do it in half an hour, it will mean a weekend with it in bits, with no guarantee they'll be able to get it back together for work on Monday, and that's if the fault was diagnosed correctly and parts were available.
If one part of the alternator is replaced and it does the trick, how long before another part packs up? They're all the same age, and if one has gone, something else is not far behind.
If the motorist is having to pay someone else to do the work, the saving in parts is going to be wiped out by the extra labour involved. At commercial rates, half an hour is not going to cover testing and diagnosis, sourcing and acquiring parts, dismantling, changing the parts, reassembly, and further testing.
Much better to get an exchange unit. Most reasonably capable DIY motorists can change that and it (usually) needs only the most basic tools. The only other way I would do it is to send the unit to an electrical specialist for overhaul, where all the perishable parts will be replaced. Even this has it's downside, the nearest such place being 10 miles away from me, I've only done it for truck units. And even this option may not be viable for the OPs, because they are quite possibly stuck without a car, and they often take several days.
All in all I consider repairing alternators on a DIY basis as not viable, if it's not charging, change the unit.
I was in a similar position because I was on-call to ferry Mum to/from the hospital to be with Dad.
Although I agree in principal that's sorta why I got the Rover for £100 off a mate in the first place. He'd had a small string of things go wrong and just wanted rid. I sorted most of the things he'd been suffering within a few days and the other bits that have happened so far have been sortable (just my time) or reasonably affordable (like this alternator) to potentially buy the old dear a few more months. ;-)
True. A guy poked his head into my mates place the other day and asked how much it would cost to have him fit a cam belt and other bits to his car. My mate replied "about 300 quid" and the guy asked if he would do it for £200. My mate explained that he was lucky enough not to have to work for less than the going rate ... ;-)
6, 10, 14 and 15mm spanners I think. ;-) Luckily on that it could all be easily done from the top and actually took me no more than a few mins.
Another advantage doing it in my mates garage .. a quick phone call and it was delivered within a couple of hours. ;-)
Agreed ... however I would have *liked* to have been able to strip, clean and repair it (I actually get pleasure from repairing things where practical), especially if we are only talking a diode (and assuming it was easy to source etc) being an electronics engineer etc.
Anyway, the one thing I really really would like to cure is the random unlocking / immobilizing this car continually suffers.
I don't care if that means I remove the security features as many a time I've gone to it and it's been unlocked but luckily it's 'not attractive to the local chavs (they even keyed nearly all the other cars in the street the other night and left the Rover alone) and there's never anything in it worth nicking.
. A guy poked his head into my mates place the other day and asked
Best one I ever had was a phone call, not from anyone I knew: Can you reset the ride on my Metro, it has failed the MoT, it is just a bit down, the MoT man said you could do it. yes I said. Could you do it today? Yes, bring it over in the next half hour and I will do it while you wait. How much? If there are no problems and it is a straightforward pump up then it will be twenty pounds all in.
Will you take 15 pounds?
Stunned silence on my end, No, I won't. Oh well I'll bring it over.
No, I am not going to do it, you can't bid someone on a twenty quid job.
I wouldn't have thought a metro could have failed on underfilled suspension. Certainly my Mini passed several with the suspension sitting on the bumpstops.
Same mate has a new customer in and wants the aircon sorting. He hovers about and my mate tells him to come back later. He arrives back an hour later while my mate is still sorta working on it and insists he takes the car without my mate road testing it properly. ]
He's back at 08:30 the next morning ranting and raving about the aircon not working (it wasn't working at all the day before and was -3 after mate had re-filled / oiled it) so my mate quietly hands him his cheque back and tells him to never darken his doors again .. (well, he didn't use those exact words) .. ;-)
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