Vixen 2500 Alternator Squeal
Discussion
afternoon all,
Alternators should be quite straightforward but this one is puzzling me...I put a new one on the other day, tested the voltage and all was happy. Then I took it out just now for a first proper drive - all fine until about 20 mins in when it started squealing. First thought was I hadn't tightened up the bolts enough and it was slipping. The ammeter then started reading very high - peaking at max charge when only on around 2500 revs with lots of squeal. Then about 5 minutes of gentle driving later I stopped at lights and blipped the throttle, same thing, squeal and high ammeter reading. Then it stopped - just like that - ammeter back to normal and no squealing. I got to work and checked the tension in the belt - all was fine - I took it off to check the free spinning of the new alternator and also felt fine - it was pretty hot though - slightly hooter than the rocker cover - which seemed a bit strange. Anyway, as my voltmeter was at home I tested the ammeter reading with no belt and it was negative, and with belt on charging slight positive so thought all was well. Finally put it back together for a last check and it started squealing again! - same symptoms as before so I've left it for now and gone in search of internet advice and WD40 in case it's just a bit of a sticky new alternator....
Anyone any advice? thoughts?
Cheers
Joe
Alternators should be quite straightforward but this one is puzzling me...I put a new one on the other day, tested the voltage and all was happy. Then I took it out just now for a first proper drive - all fine until about 20 mins in when it started squealing. First thought was I hadn't tightened up the bolts enough and it was slipping. The ammeter then started reading very high - peaking at max charge when only on around 2500 revs with lots of squeal. Then about 5 minutes of gentle driving later I stopped at lights and blipped the throttle, same thing, squeal and high ammeter reading. Then it stopped - just like that - ammeter back to normal and no squealing. I got to work and checked the tension in the belt - all was fine - I took it off to check the free spinning of the new alternator and also felt fine - it was pretty hot though - slightly hooter than the rocker cover - which seemed a bit strange. Anyway, as my voltmeter was at home I tested the ammeter reading with no belt and it was negative, and with belt on charging slight positive so thought all was well. Finally put it back together for a last check and it started squealing again! - same symptoms as before so I've left it for now and gone in search of internet advice and WD40 in case it's just a bit of a sticky new alternator....
Anyone any advice? thoughts?
Cheers
Joe
the alternator saga continues....
so I (maybe stupidly?) squirted a bit of wd40 on the spindle and I have no more squeal. Great, however, I'm not sure the alternator is charging now (still not had a chance to put a voltmeter on it) as the ammeter sat around the slight negative all day with no sign of movement with the engine revs.
It did do around 300 miles yesterday and aside from that (and the other thing I'll mention in another thread to follow) perfectly....I'll report further once I've got a voltmeter on the battery.
Mixture of fast Motorway and very enthusiastic A road driving returned 29.2 mpg over the whole day which I was pretty pleased with.
Cheers
Joe
so I (maybe stupidly?) squirted a bit of wd40 on the spindle and I have no more squeal. Great, however, I'm not sure the alternator is charging now (still not had a chance to put a voltmeter on it) as the ammeter sat around the slight negative all day with no sign of movement with the engine revs.
It did do around 300 miles yesterday and aside from that (and the other thing I'll mention in another thread to follow) perfectly....I'll report further once I've got a voltmeter on the battery.
Mixture of fast Motorway and very enthusiastic A road driving returned 29.2 mpg over the whole day which I was pretty pleased with.
Cheers
Joe
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