Alternator tales

[bangernom1cs]

HI,

Last night my alternator clutch pulley did the 'shearing off thing' which to my shame I didnt know much about having changed a few of them on the 1.9's with solid pullies over the years. Oh well should be easy enough but in the p*** ing down rain and a gale I thought better and went straight to the garage whilst I still had lights before they closed.
'They all do that and is your bonnet dented?' said the taxi garage . Fortunately no dents as it happened at walking speed and almost tickover revs with the first signs being a bang and watching a pulley wheel and lots of needle rollers rolling off across the road in front of me!
The problems started with the re-con alternator being supplied as the re-manufacturers catalogue was wrong! Right item but with wrong electrical connectors which cross references with some Suzuki thingy.
The factors were left scratching their heads and rang up the factory. 'Oh yes we know about that, try this one' and duly gave another number which on the face of it was better as it was a BRAND NEW boxed item and fitted physically. Brilliant I thought until it was fitted by the garage and wasnt charging at all...all this at 5pm when it couldnt be replaced (their last one) until the morning. I Just managed to get the car home before it died and taking another night off work... and now having to remove the battery in the dark and do an overnight charge.
The gripe I have is that this clutch thing isnt particularly neccessary as the re-con people only fit solid pulleys meaning I had to chuck away a perfectly functioning item ,pulley apart, for no good reason.

I'll keep you posted.....

T

[TopDonkey]

The alternator clutch (which isnt a clutch, its just a 1 way bearing) extends the life of your aux belt by freewheeling when there is a light electrical load and a sudden drop in revs (like a fast gearchange), without the bearing, the belt momentarily slips on the alternator pulley due to the large mass of the alternator armature and small diameter of the pulley, and over time it wears the belt out.

Dont try and oil or grease the bearing, it is designed to be stiff to turn, if you oil or grease it, it will rattle like its knackered, but still work perfectly

Just a little snippet of useless information for you about the alternator clutch !

[Coops]

Fellow 406 Owner's,
not too sure if the problem I'm having is related to the "alternator clutch" but I'm constantly getting the red battery lamp flashing on the instrument panel, along with a battery charging fault on the warning screen. and that incessant beep. Normally it's only for a fraction of a second at a time, but the periodicity between bleeps is getting more and more. I've put a meter across the battery and I'm definately getting around 14.6 volts output with the engine running, but as the fault is only for a fraction of a second, I'm not sure if my meter would react quickly enough to show a duff reading. I'm aware of the loose ignition switch issue that can cause electrical problems and at first I thought that this might be the way my Pug was going, but the charging problem doesn't seem to be related to how loose the ignition barrel is.

Since buying the car in Apr 09 (110 HDI on a W plate (D9)) I've had a new alternator, drive belt and crankshaft drive pulley fitted at various stages of ownership, so in theory it's just the "clutch" that possibly is causing these problems. Has anyone out there also had a simliar fault and, if so, what was the fix.

Many thanks
Coops

[mjb]

Check the wiring to the alternator and the engine ground(s) first

[Coops]

Yep, that's sorted it out, the smaller of the two connections was loose... And that's after two garages have looked at the thing, should have checked there first.

Many thanks MJB

[steve_earwig]

Don't go back to those garages...

[mjb]

Yep, that's sorted it out, the smaller of the two connections was loose... And that's after two garages have looked at the thing, should have checked there first.

Many thanks MJB

If only I could make as much money fixing cars as I can sitting at a keyboard...