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Once again, an alternator on my '80 Spider ceased functioning. Last August, I purchased an alternator from Victoria British to replace the one whose dead short had melted virtually all the wiring harness. A professionally rebuilt wiring harness was installed and everything was cleaned up. It took 2 returns before I received a working alternator, and even then, alternator #3 had to be taken to a local electrical shop for some minor rewiring before it would work properly.
It continued to work well until January, aided by the purchase of a new battery in October. During the winter, though, the ignition light would occasionally flicker, or fail to go on when the ignition key was turned to "on." In February, heavy snows and too much road salt limited the use of the car to Maine island driving only over short distances. My '66 Land Rover became the vehicle of choice for driving long distances on the mainland.
Spring arrived for a couple of days this past weekend and I had my hopes up to swap island and mainland cars. When I started the TR, I noticed the ignition light failed to go off; it would just get dim. The voltmeter showed only about a 1/4 in the white area; turning on the heater fan quickly showed it discharging back into the red.
So I fully charged up the battery, removed every ground screw and cleaned up the metal underneath, and checked out the alternator connections. They were very clean, so I removed the alternator from the car and took off the back plate. Everything looked quite clean inside there, too. I installed it back on the car and found that nothing had changed. A trip to the island garage confirmed that the alternator was putting out only 11.2 volts.
So here's an alternator with only 7 month's use, dead in the water. I called Victoria British to speak with them about the failed alternator. they listened to my tale of woe and to my delight, they agreed to replace it at no charge.
Might I still get a poorly rebuilt alternator? Yes, but I'm impressed that a Btitish car parts supplier would support keeping our cars on the road with this level of service. Thank you Vicky Brit!
Jeff
It continued to work well until January, aided by the purchase of a new battery in October. During the winter, though, the ignition light would occasionally flicker, or fail to go on when the ignition key was turned to "on." In February, heavy snows and too much road salt limited the use of the car to Maine island driving only over short distances. My '66 Land Rover became the vehicle of choice for driving long distances on the mainland.
Spring arrived for a couple of days this past weekend and I had my hopes up to swap island and mainland cars. When I started the TR, I noticed the ignition light failed to go off; it would just get dim. The voltmeter showed only about a 1/4 in the white area; turning on the heater fan quickly showed it discharging back into the red.
So I fully charged up the battery, removed every ground screw and cleaned up the metal underneath, and checked out the alternator connections. They were very clean, so I removed the alternator from the car and took off the back plate. Everything looked quite clean inside there, too. I installed it back on the car and found that nothing had changed. A trip to the island garage confirmed that the alternator was putting out only 11.2 volts.
So here's an alternator with only 7 month's use, dead in the water. I called Victoria British to speak with them about the failed alternator. they listened to my tale of woe and to my delight, they agreed to replace it at no charge.
Might I still get a poorly rebuilt alternator? Yes, but I'm impressed that a Btitish car parts supplier would support keeping our cars on the road with this level of service. Thank you Vicky Brit!
Jeff
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