alternator stuffed

[nat_daly]

gday all,

one of the family cars, 1979 mkII escort continually loses charge from the battery, i replaced the battery, and so thats all brand new but my volt meter guage continualy drops away.

is my alternator faulty? I thgink so, but thought i would ask
what else could the problem be?

where can i get an alternator/wiring/coil, wateva it is thats not doing its job in there,

any comments, suggestions or outright instructions would be great

thanx

[crispymk2]

have you checked for any dodgy wiring? I had the same problem which turned out to be just an aftermarket temp gauge connected directly to 12V rather than through the ignition so it was always on.

Dosent take long even for something small to drain enough juice to make starting hard.

minijed (or minijeb?) on ebay does original Lucas hd ones for eskies, just send him an email thru ebay and he can sort one out, just dont let any sparkies try to modify one to fit cause they will do more harm than good, trust me!


Also, if it is just hard to start it may be the solenoid, check that for cracks etc, they are only around $20 - 40, lots less than an alternator (round $160+)

[79'Escort]

hey,
i know that all the 79' escorts had troubles with the alternators rattling loose inside and deteriorating. i had this very problem and was told how to fix this by a guy that was in a escort car club.
The way you can fix this is by rubber isolating the alternator and making sure you don't have the original alternator in it.
Because of two reasons, its nearly 30yrs old and because they rattle loose and has been doing so for somewhat 30yrs. You can rubber isolate the alternator by using rubber gromits on the mounting points with some creative thinking.
Not sure if that is the problem you may have, but its worth checking.
you can check if the alternator is stuffed by just checking the output charge (volts) from the alternator with the engine running of course. i think it should be above the 13v mark... not 100% sure on the exact voltage.
hope this was helpful.


79'escort

[mr scotto]

easy altenator check.
1-start car
2-disconnect battery lead from battery (+ or -)don't let + lead touch body.
3-if car continues to run altenator is charging.
4-put volt/multy meter on + lead and see what it charging at.
5-if car stopped after 2, altenator is not working.