After giving some advice on a forum the other week my own alternator failed. No problem I thought, a friend ordered one up from the UK for only 45 quid plus post. (I live 8000 miles away). When it arrived it was a Britpart, my friend apologized as I have previously said some abusive things about Britpart after purchasing their foam filled steering damper. No problem I said, its only an alternator what can go wrong!
Well, first off there was no pulley, so I fitted my old one, I then fitted the alternator. The belt would not fit as there was a spacer on the alternator shaft that needed removing to allow the pulley to align. After originally fitting the pulley nut with Locktite studlock, I had a hell of a job removing it. Anyway, got if off in the end and then I realised there was also no fan fitted to the front of the alternator, (the old one had an integral fan). After sorting out the fan (got the fan off the old alternator , turned down the pulley hub and then fitted a spacer), I refitted the alternator and started the engine. The battery light would not go out!
I checked voltage and no power from alternator. As I live on the other side of the world, sending the piece of cr*p back was not an option.
So... I pulled it apart and found that two diodes had fallen apart (un-soldered) inside on the rectifier plate. After much work robbing diodes from the old alternator, I fixed the rectifier and tried again. Still no voltage! I had no method of checking it further, so I took to a local repair shop, they diagnosed the fault as the voltage regulator and replaced it for 60 quid (ten quid for the part in UK).
Whilst I had the thing apart I noticed that there were no brand names on anything, the diodes were tiny (in comparison to the original alternator), the diodes and stator wires were not crimped just soldered and some dry joints (hence falling apart), the bearing at the back had no seal and grease was coming out already, this was contaminating the brushes and slip ring!
All in all a very shoddy component, but very cheap and you never know you might get one that works for a short while when you buy it! My advice is keep well away from Brit-part alternators and anything else, the quality is appalling. I am now going to purchase a new Denso or OEM Magnetti Marelli item, as i have no faith in this thing lasting.
Well, first off there was no pulley, so I fitted my old one, I then fitted the alternator. The belt would not fit as there was a spacer on the alternator shaft that needed removing to allow the pulley to align. After originally fitting the pulley nut with Locktite studlock, I had a hell of a job removing it. Anyway, got if off in the end and then I realised there was also no fan fitted to the front of the alternator, (the old one had an integral fan). After sorting out the fan (got the fan off the old alternator , turned down the pulley hub and then fitted a spacer), I refitted the alternator and started the engine. The battery light would not go out!
I checked voltage and no power from alternator. As I live on the other side of the world, sending the piece of cr*p back was not an option. So... I pulled it apart and found that two diodes had fallen apart (un-soldered) inside on the rectifier plate. After much work robbing diodes from the old alternator, I fixed the rectifier and tried again. Still no voltage! I had no method of checking it further, so I took to a local repair shop, they diagnosed the fault as the voltage regulator and replaced it for 60 quid (ten quid for the part in UK).
Whilst I had the thing apart I noticed that there were no brand names on anything, the diodes were tiny (in comparison to the original alternator), the diodes and stator wires were not crimped just soldered and some dry joints (hence falling apart), the bearing at the back had no seal and grease was coming out already, this was contaminating the brushes and slip ring!
All in all a very shoddy component, but very cheap and you never know you might get one that works for a short while when you buy it!
My advice is keep well away from Brit-part alternators and anything else, the quality is appalling. I am now going to purchase a new Denso or OEM Magnetti Marelli item, as i have no faith in this thing lasting.
