Exchange alternator or DIY

The brushes were stuck. Tapping the alternator with a hammer released them. To me that indicates there is dirt of something stopping the brushes making full contact, which may need a strip down and clean of all the parts including the dirty copper coils. Or would new brush springs solves that?

I have had lots of cars with Lucas electrics and none were a problem. Who uses them these days?

Also as said previously, the brushes are only powering the magnets on the rotor and not supplying the current to the battery and car.

Mark

The very worst electrics I had on any vehicle were the Delco ones on a Bedford van. The distributor broke regularly. The starter too.

Lucas made some pretty ropey switches, though. The type used on the Series I XJ6 and others of that period. But I'd guess they were only supplying what the makers would pay for.

Since most alternators draw air through them for cooling purposes, it's possible some muck etc got drawn in. A good clean might sort things.

I doubt if cleaning out the inside of the alternator is going to make much difference.

The brushes probably stuck due to a buildup of the worn carbon from the brushes in the bore, not from dirt on contact area, which is continuously swept clean. Use a pipe smoker's pipe cleaner to clean out the bore, then blow it out with compressed air.

Well, yeah. Delco has replaced Lucas as the mfg of choice for service providers (that want to keep you coming back for more...)

General recommendation in the Toyota group: if you buy a Chevy Prism (a Corolla made in California) when time comes to replace the alternator go to a Toyota dealer and get a Denso...

LOL! Every one I know that had a Brit wagon would usually try to replace the electrics. C'mon, man, you have to admit that on classic Brit cars, Lucas was often the problem!

Electrics are likely to be a problem on any classic car.

(I'm talking when they were NEW! ;P )

Well my experience of them new in their homeland said they were no worse than other makes. Italian and French electrics had probably a worse reputation. Of course the UK had little experience with US cars due to them being unsuitable for local conditions, so difficult to comment on their electrical reliability first hand. It might be due to lack of familiarity with servicing that gave this poor reputation - or adapting to Federal requirements.

LOL! Certainly Italian and French cars did not get a very good reputation over here. FIAT went slinking back to Italy with it's tail between it's legs in the early 80's after years of miserable sales of mostly unreliable cars Occasionally you see the odd Quadrofoglio kicking around (near Boston, the major city I'm closest to...). Peugeot likewise made a similar exit about the same time.

OTOH, I had a friend that had an X1/9 that was a very well made car, reliable and fun. Before that he had a FIAT 600 that was also a pretty good car. He still had the X1/9 last time I saw him a few years ago, but had long since moved to Toyota for his everyday car.

If you ever wanted to see the good side of Human Nature, get stuck on the side of the road with a disabled Triumph, Healy or MG! ;) (Not so much with a Jensen or Jaguar...)

Do you not find it odd that one will see plenty of those crappie cars from the UK as well as Italian and French cars like the FIAT, Peugeot, X1/9 Triumph, Healy or MG, Jensen or Jaguar at old cars shows but hardly ever see any of the so called superior cars from Japan from that area?

Not at all. They were sports cars and had a cult following.

Most Japanese cars of the era were 'appliances' and didn't have the handling or the mass appeal of the Brit cars. They were basic transportation and didn't have the 'sex appeal' of the Brit sport cars.

As such, they didn't have car clubs devoted to them, or the number of people attracted to them to make it worthwhile to keep them running, cataloguing or remanufacturing parts, or involved in maintenance.

If there had been as much of a cult following, there would probably be a LOT of them on the roads.

The only Jap car from the 60's that got this kind of adulation in the US was the Datsun 510, and you can still see these racing on the SCCA circuits.

Jaguar before being taken over by Ford were perhaps more aggressive than many in driving down component costs - and that showed in the electrics. I had a Series 1 XJ6 which *did* have electrical problems - mainly with the switchgear, which is why I mentioned it earlier. That first range of Lucas rocker switches was the pits - the earlier toggle ones were pretty good. However I dunno if you can blame Lucas for only supplying what a maker was willing to pay for - after all they also made superb switchgear for Rolls, etc.

Everyone likes to blame Lucas.

In fairness, I used to work for a company that was owned by the same company that owns Pratt & Whitney. We made the fuel controls for military and commercial jets.

They took us to P&W to see where our stuff was used, and for some reason they did our best to keep us away from a group of a half-dozen mid-sized engines. A few of us wandered that way and were informed it was an order for either the English military or a British airline (may have been Virgin; they were just getting rolling then) and in the place where our fuel controls were supposed to be mounted were engine control manufactured by Lucas! "Oh, No!" I groaned...

You have to remember that my 'experience' (as it is, second or third hand) goes back to TR3s, TR4s and TR7s. Cool cars, but not the most reliable to come from across the pond.

But, when you're driving a Triumph, who cares? You drive it for the experience, not as a daily driver. That's why we bought Toyotas! ;)

There was once a letter to the ed. in Car and Driver from some guy who owned a Brit car in the late 70's/early 80's. He started the letter by saying the Queen woke up to find a man sitting on her bed talking to her. She pressed the security button and nothing happened. "How can you expect the British to make a good car when they can't even make a push button properly?!"

Sorry...apologies in advance! (I didn't write the letter, BTW...)

Was Lucas better? In aero equipment they had a good reputation. I believe the WW2 Spitfires had Lucas injections systems on the RR Merlins and they really performed.

Triumph for the time were quite reliable, except the TR6. In those days few cars were reliable. The VW Beetle only caught on because it was more reliable than the rest. And those American car that just stopped for no reason.

I guess we can assume you never owned a VW back in the day, right LOL

I did at one time for 6 months. I hated it.