Alternator Issue ???

[philmcdau]

The past few weeks or so the alternator light has been staying on. The voltmeter has shown it still charging at 14v and all guages have been ok, other than the fuel guage which has never really read correctly.....

The last few days the fuel, temp and volt guages are going nuts........ tehy are ok for a while then as I idle at lights etc all the guages flicker quite violently and volts drop right down.   Today it seems they have finally given up the ghost..... fuel right on empty, temp guage goes to the extreme right and volt meter reads zero....  Is this as a result of the volts spiking due to diode damage on the alternator.

Has the alternator finally given up the ghost. It starts ok, for now...... Is there anything else you think it could be?

If it is an alternator problem is there any tricks and tips others may have on replacement, repair etc......

Thoughts anyone......

[aussiegregmac]

First off, the cheap way.   Check for good earths in the Dash, particularly on the instruments.
Greg

[Carzee]

First off, the cheap way.   Check for good earths in the Dash, particularly on the instruments.
Greg

Also check the voltage stabilizer on the back of the dash... I am speaking from series 2a experience but I assume the modern landies have something similar, 10volts, metal outer, rectangular, size of a Lego brick. Have a look for the it in the circuit diagram to see if its part of the modern dash or not.

[aussiegregmac]

Wot's a Leggo brick then.  I only had Meccano.

[Carzee]

Yeah, you had metal, I had plastic, and today's kids... Software

[Dervish]

First off, the cheap way.   Check for good earths in the Dash, particularly on the instruments.
Greg

This is almost certainly your issue. Mine was doing the same thing (sort of); cleaning connections, making sure they were tight and removing unnecessary parts of the loom fixed everything. By unnecessary parts of the loom I mean the jumpers from bullet connector to spade - why couldn't they just remove the bullet connector and fit a spade?? It's mind boggling.

To fix the fuel gauge I had to get under the driver's seat and fix the connections on the tank, first removing several kilos of dried mud to reveal the connections.

[philmcdau]

I have been playing around with the dash fixing the mounts as they were all snapped and the dash vibrated more than usual. There is a chance I have messed up or  loosened something in the spaghetti mess behind there. I thought it was an earthing problem initially, that may still be the case.

With the fuel gauge it is a bit dodgy at the tank end, you give that a shake and the gauge plays up. I have got a new seal and locking ring for the sender unit, I will replace that and see if it makes a difference. I am sure it will.

Thanks guys, it may still be something as simple as a loose earth connection somewhere.

[philmcdau]

The mighty power of the forum.......

So thinking it was worth checking behind the dash again I went in behind the guages again... Lo and behold there were two black wires with ring connectors on the end just free floating. So that solved the earting issue, now to find where they came from.  Behind the Volt Guage the bolt had come off one of the retaining bolts. The two earth cables went there. A dig around the bottom of the housing found the nut and once screwed back on with the wires  in place all was good. Volts read at 14 and temp guage is fine. After a while the red light went out as well... but I shut the blackout cover and it went off, opened the cover and tapped the panel and it came back on, knocked again and off it went. I think I need to dig in behind that now and find the loose connection there.
Things are looking good.

The fuel guage still was 'stuck' at the 1 mark on the guage, this is where it stops an it normally gives me an extra 150 km before all stops. I filled the tank and it read full so its off now to find where the problem will be there. I know the sender unit from the tank is a bit dodgy and if I wiggle it the guage plays up. Will tackle that another day, but I am getting close.

[aussiegregmac]

Send cash.  No cheques.   Gotta thank Barefoot Dave.  That's what he found on mine before I wrested it off him.
Greg