Megell Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Your going to think this is a weird question, but I'm going to ask anyway. I would like to know what things NOT TO DO to an alternator on the vehicle running or not to prevent perhaps shorting out one or more of the two connectors on the alt. that would result in absolutley frying of the lovely device? In the interest of keeping my 91 Subaru ej22t, running in a fine state of tune, this info would be very much appreciated. Thanking you I am. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Perhaps hankosolder2 will provide details of loving care of alternators via a private message. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 Perhaps hankosolder2 will provide details of loving care of alternators via a private message. :lol: That's what I was thinking, but it took me awhile to find my old thread. Now I must learn how to PM to hankosoldr2 for details on this so called preventive maintenance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 Perhaps hankosolder2 will provide details of loving care of alternators via a private message. :lol: That's what I was thinking, but it took me awhile to find my old thread. Now I must learn how to PM to hankosoldr2 for details on this so called preventive maintenance procedure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 Sorry for the double post, I'm not too forum savvy. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 [...] Now I must learn how to PM to hankosoldr2 for details on this so called preventive maintenance procedure. One way is to click on "User CP" near the top left of the page, then when that opens click on "Send New Message" (on the left, under "Private Messages"). Be sure to enter the "Recipient Username" spelled correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 One way is to click on "User CP" near the top left of the page, then when that opens click on "Send New Message" (on the left, under "Private Messages"). Be sure to enter the "Recipient Username" spelled correctly. Thank you OB99W, once I do this, I'll have it down. Still in the learning curve. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 (edited) Thank you OB99W, once I do this, I'll have it down. Still in the learning curve.Mike You're welcome. An easy method, if you're at a post of the person you went to send the message to, is just click on their username (in yellow at the top left of the post). Once you do, the rest is obvious. EDIT: In fact, if you need to find one of your own previous messages, click on your own name, etc. Edited February 7, 2010 by OB99W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 Best thing to do is make sure when you wash the engine bay to cover the alternator and no spray all sorts of cleaners all over like I did which ended up frying my alternator when I took a drive downtown and had to drive home at night with no lights, wipers, defrost, radio on a foggy rainy night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobaru Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 Best thing to do is make sure when you wash the engine bay to cover the alternator and no spray all sorts of cleaners all over like I did which ended up frying my alternator when I took a drive downtown and had to drive home at night with no lights, wipers, defrost, radio on a foggy rainy night. true but what about water crossing (rivers mud holes etc etc ) other than dont throw rocks at it is dont jump a other car with your motor running..............you can charge dead car then turn yours off dead car starts or dosen't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 Since the main output lead of the alternator is hot to the battery is always a good idea to diconnect the battery ground lead before working on the alterntor lead. Also never disconnect the battery with the engine and alternator running. For those that drive into water higher than a few inches they should be prepared for the worst things to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 Best thing to do is make sure when you wash the engine bay to cover the alternator and no spray all sorts of cleaners all over like I did which ended up frying my alternator when I took a drive downtown and had to drive home at night with no lights, wipers, defrost, radio on a foggy rainy night. So..if I didn't cover the alternator ...and was in possession of .... say a ..high performance squirt bottle and .. my mission is to "clean the windings" that are visibly dirty while the engine is running, would that be ok for the sake of this effort? I don't need much defrosting here in the desert. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 Since the main output lead of the alternator is hot to the battery is always a good idea to diconnect the battery ground lead before working on the alterntor lead. Also never disconnect the battery with the engine and alternator running. For those that drive into water higher than a few inches they should be prepared for the worst things to happen. Thanks Cougar, what would happen if you disconnect the ground batt cable while the engine was idling? I know it would probably die but could it possibly hurt my alternator, or worse ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 Besides being an energy storage device, the battery acts as a kind of electrical "shock absorber". You shouldn't disconnect it while the engine is running, because the alternator (especially one that needs "loving attention") might put out errant voltage spikes that could harm the electronics in the car (ECU, etc.), more so than the alternator itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 What OB99W said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naru Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Thanks Cougar, what would happen if you disconnect the ground batt cable while the engine was idling? I know it would probably die but could it possibly hurt my alternator, or worse ? Nothing 99.9999% of the time. Done it 1000`s of times. Wouldn`t do it if the battery was flat and taking a heavy charge though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 [...]Wouldn`t do it if the battery was flat and taking a heavy charge though. What would you do if the alternator had a bad regulator, and was known to intermittently put out significantly too high voltage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naru Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 What would you do if the alternator had a bad regulator, and was known to intermittently put out significantly too high voltage? I`d fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 9, 2010 Author Share Posted February 9, 2010 (edited) I`d fix it. I'm listening. UPDATE: The several days dash lights going on and off resulting in a serious performance loss each time they come on. Not good and was now a safety issue as well. I drove home, removed the alt., placed in on my workbench and tested it with one of my two battery chargers. A quick trip to local auto parts confirmed a dead alt. I returned it to supplier, they tested and gave me a new one with another year warranty. Car is running normal now. Knock on wood! Thanks for all the help again. Mike Edited February 17, 2010 by Megell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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