Alternator Refresh

[ausdrift]

I was planning to give my alternator a birthday but cant remember exactly what should be changed. I learned about this all in auto electrical class about 7 years ago. Is it the bushes I should replace? is there any point changing the regulator if it hasnt died?

any info appreciated

[tiberis]

i can't imagine anything needs to be changed if it's all working ok.

Brushes can wear out though.

my alternator in my R33 died the other week (regulator shat its self) and the brushes in it looked pretty good (car is 17 years old and 150,000Kms on the clock)

only time i've seen worn brushes was on my 1984 alfa 33, which had done like 270,000Kms.

so unless your car is rather old or has travelled quite far for it's age, i wouldn't really bother too much with it.

[ausdrift]

my old s13 with about 130,000kms on it suffered a failure of the alternator and I realise now I got ripped off to the hilt by dodgy mechanics as it was probably one of those two things. Living in Tokyo, I dont really want to be stranded anywhere (especially elevated freeways) so i figure its a good idea to tackle it before it f**ks me.

so, more opinions, ideas?

[MrStabby]

My guess would be regulator (which usually contains the brush pack), rectifier and bearings. The stator or rotor could fail but I imagine that's very rare.

If it were me I wouldn't touch it until it dies, after all, if you're not going to replace everything else that could cause the car not to run what have you achieved? For example, i would replace all the rubber coolant hoses first, because they're getting old and my guess is they would be more likely to fail than the alternator.

[ausdrift]

"i would replace all the rubber coolant hoses first, because they're getting old and my guess is they would be more likely to fail than the alternator."

Yeah, done this already. Im going for reliability on this car before I get too crazy with other stuff. No point going fast if simple stuff will die on me.

how much am I looking at for the part?

[t_revz]

i wouldnt change regulator if it hasnt failed. just unsolder the brushes out of it and replace. is a bearing at either end of the rotor that can be done.be careful removing bearings and try not to lever off other parts etc and use a press if possible. make sure the slipring hasnt got a big groove where the brushes run. but really an alternator nearly never would leave you stranded on an overpass. you will almost always get warning light, nasty noises or electronics will start cutting in and out before you get stuck.

[ausdrift]

I still have vivid memories of my s13 rolling to a stop half way home many years ago. Then again there may well have been warning signs and I was just too thick to notice. Pretty sure my GFs at the time died also, I think i changed it myself (7 odd years ago now).

Well, im gonna talk to nissan tommorow about getting the bushes replaced, prevention never hurt nobody