Alternator Not Charging Battery

[Helirich]

Odds are you got a bad one.

Can you post a pic of how it is wired?

This! I've seen this happen a lot. If you had wired it wrong, it probably would have failed right away.

I've heard that Autozone, Advanced Auto and Orielies all buy components that won't pass the big three automakers tests. They still work and sometimes they work for many years. But there never as good as the ones that pass the more rigorous tests. That's why it seems like new cars components last. (This is true of starters, AC components and other stuff)

Of course you get the lifetime warranty. I understand they bank on you getting rid of the car before it fails.

[Ron]

This is the wiring.

Does the pigtail (small brown wire) eventually connect to a brown with yellow stripe wire in the harness. If so, I'd put money on it being a bad alternator.

...Did you ever tap the brown with yellow stripe wire on ground to see if the battery light goes on and off (key on)?

[Midnight Specialist]

I added a ground. After adding the ground it started and started charging 14.5 volts. Then 3 min later, same thing. No charge. Battery light on. I then grinded off some of the coating on the back of the bracket and sides where it attaches to the engine block and alternator. I even put the original tensioner back on. Same thing.


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[Helirich]

Now it sounds heat related. Can't say I've heard of that.

[Midnight Specialist]

It’s not a hot engine at all.


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[Midnight Specialist]

I had the brand new alternator tested and this one failed as well. Is there something in the electrical system that could kill alternators?


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[WHO1DMC]

I had the brand new alternator tested and this one failed as well. Is there something in the electrical system that could kill alternators?


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It's rare but a bad battery can do this. Testing with a multimeter will not detect this problem.



Dave B.

[Midnight Specialist]

As rare as getting a bad alternator from the vendor? With my luck it might be. Going to have o’reily test it tomorrow


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[Midnight Specialist]

I think I figured it out. There is no ground to the alternator. I had the shop swap out my tensioner with the one shown. What I didn’t know was the rod ends “Made of stainless steel, these rod ends provide excellent corrosion resistance. A PTFE liner allows smooth ball rotation and eliminates the need for lubrication.”

That teflon liner is acting as an insulator. The DPI bracket is coated and also acting as an insulator.

Not knowing this I must have fried the replacement. Another one is coming in and I have removed the coating on the bracket where it connects to the engine and the alternator. I will also use the ground wire.


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[Delorean Industries]

No need to grind on the billet aluminum bracket. Just run the jumper wire if you are going to continue using the rod end tensioner. Other wise with the supplied stainless tensioner in the kit all will be good. Haven't posted on this thread but have been dealing with midnight directly to find the grounding issue and working on getting warranty units back and forth.

We are updating our directions with additional warnings regarding discharged batteries and the risk of adding in components not included with the kit. IE different tensioners in this case was enough to cause an issue. As a margin of safety we will also be including updated grounding components to mitigate poor negative earth issues common on the cars. This will prevent damaging regulators if engine mount grounds and so on are not clean enough. Essentially the failures occur from a lack of ground for the circuit. Adding the grounding after the fact is not enough as the damage is normally done.

As a test we were able to take a brand new unit and cause a fault this morning by reducing the grounding. The alternator failed after just a few miles.