Van went dead whilst driving 30mph on a country lane

[Ralf85]

I bought mine from Brickwerks current price £10.56 + postage, but they are widely available on Amazon. Two screws on the back of the alternator hold it in place. New brushes are about 3cm long. Knackered ones about 0.5cm. Bit fiddly to put the new one on but it is a 10 min job.
Personally I would order one anyway and replace the old one and then you can relax for several years.

[TobyGilden]

So i just stripped the wires back by about 25mm to shiny copper, re-crimp onto the spade connectors and plugged back into the alternator, with the engine running but no lights on I had a voltage at the battery of 13.3v, with all the lights on full and hazards, I had a voltage of 12.91v.

I am going to go ahead and order the voltage regulator from brickwerks - I was going to get this;

http://www.brickwerks.co.uk/index.php/t ... 3-all.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

is this the correct one? And should this bring up the voltage once the van is running?

Cheers for all of the help

[marlinowner]

Yes that's the one, well worth having as a spare even if your one is OK. What's the voltage between the alternator terminal and ground when the engine is running? I'm not convinced charging problems are making your van cut out, when my alternator packed up the lights gradually got dimmer, indicators stopped flashing as the voltage dropped, but the engine was the last thing to go.

[TobyGilden]

When checking the voltage between the alternator terminal and the ground which terminal should I use? and can I just use the van as ground/earth?

I just had the engine running for about 5 minutes, and the battery light is on, so I'm guessing that my little wire fix hasn't sorted it, will this regulator sort it? or am I looking at a new alternator?

Cheers

[Ralf85]

I assume that you have replaced the wiring correctly. Have you taken the old regulator pack off yet? That takes a couple of minutes to check. See my message above. It's cheap to buy and if that is still not the problem, you have a spare pack for future use. A replacement alternator is serious money. Your choice!

[ermie571]

the charging wire is blue on mine. a red light while running says that the battery is receiving no charge....or the wiring is buggered if you are getting charge at the battery.

You also said above that your battery is under the passenger seat? My leisure is under the passenger seat, but the main starter is under the driver seat??

(but then my are RHD)

Good luck, and I'm glad you are enjoying your van xx

[marlinowner]

Sometimes you have to rev the engine a bit to excite the alternator coils and start it charging.

[TobyGilden]

So after work today I decided to replace the leaking coolant pipe, I used some 8mm bore fuel line, it's all that was suitable at my local shop, I had the engine running to check for leaks, I then turned it off to do a bit of a clean up, when I went to start it again I had nothing.

My job for tomorrow is to remove the battery, clean up every connection and check the size of the alternator brushes, I have the regulator on order.

[Ralf85]

Thinking about it if some of the hose bodging you have found already has been done, I would get a trusted mechanic/garage to give it a check over as well to see what else might be a future problem.

[TobyGilden]

So I just got home from work to find a package waiting for me, today something finally went my way.

I ordered some LED bulbs for my dash, hoping that my PCB wasn't completely destroyed, and to my surprise they worked (apart from one which was damaged, but it is being replaced) - I ordered them from Campervan Culture, I am super pleased with the service they have provided.

any way here it is, a lit up dash!!!! (the middle bulb is hopefully on its way)

Screen Shot 2015-02-12 at 18.11.59.png

I am going to head back out now and try to get a few more bits done - do you guys recommend putting vasoline on electrical connections once made??


Cheers

Toby

[kevtherev]

on the battery terminals yes.

[TobyGilden]

after cutting back the wires from the alternator and cleaning up the battery terminals + earth crowns, the van hasn't lost power at all, and the has kept its charge. I am still having some issues with my dash board though;

Last week I fitted some new bulbs to the dash board, which work when the lights are on, but when I put main beam on, the lights go off, and a green LED comes on, has the green LED taken the power?

What fixes should I start to consider for my petrol gauge other than the PCB replacement?

[Ralf85]

So have you replaced the regulator pack yet or have I missed something? That needs to be done!

[marlinowner]

The instruments light problem will be with the earth, the instrument lights are earthing though the main beam circuit, when you switch main beam on then that route no linger works and the bulbs go out.

Gauges not working could be the same problem.

[TobyGilden]

The voltage regulator has been dispatched from the guys over at brickworks, it's not with me yet.

How many earth points should there be on the earth crowns under the dash? I have a lot of free spaces, could it be that the LED dash bulbs, and petrol gauge haven't had their earth points connected and are automatically using the earth point for something else, or do I really need to try and trace the earth point from the PCB to the crown?

It's really tricky to get the crowns and terminals clean