NAPS Alternator options?

[Spades]

Ok, I have a NAPS Z20S, and the alternator went out a while ago(was over charging amp wise with low voltage), so I bought a reman'd unit from Baxter, their Endurance brand.

 

This is the 3rd alternator I have put in the car, the first one wouldn't even kick the regulator on, the second one worked fine for 3 weeks and the regulator went out, this one has made it over 2 weeks and the regulator went out today.

 

I am done with these alternators, but for the 60 amp alternator the car is supposed to have, the only options are a reman'd Bosch from Carquest or Baxter, or more of these "Endurance" alternators.

 

Frankly, unless I find something wrong with my car, I don't plan on buying another Endurance product ever. The alternator has only 4 connections...positive, negative, sense, and field. I have re-ran all of my wiring to the alternator to get rid of the possibility of wiring shorts,ect. I have the sense wire going to battery positive just before the fuse panel. The field wire is on ignition hot. Both wires are getting proper voltage. I ran new + and - wires in case that was the problem.

 

I am pretty sure it isn't the car, cause the other techs in the shop have looked my wiring over, and the car has no shorts or electrical glitches at all. The alternators recently have worked great for a few weeks, then the regulators slowly stop working (not kicking the alternator on, sometimes when they have started to go bad, turning the headlights on and creating a draw has made the regulator kick on, but this last one just failed, nothing I did made the regulator kick back on).

 

So, what other options does a NAPS Z owner have for alternator options? Is there any alternators that I can get from Nissan new or reman'd, or perhaps a alternator from a newer car so I can buy a brand new alternator? I am sick of the reman'd stuff, and the only two Re manufacturer brands my shop trusts and uses, do not offer a alternator for a 1980 Z20S.

 

HELP!

[elmerfudpucker]

got a z22 myself, grabbed a lifetime one from shucks about a year ago, no problems yet.

[izzo]

Shoot i posted something but i dont know about the Z20S

 

If its the same style as the Naps-z24. Then get a VG30 alternator. Higher output IIRC. Same fitment and same wire connector.

[datzenmike]

Any alternator in a Nissan after '77 were internally regulated. I can't believe you were using the 510 external regulator type alternator.

 

The 720s used a 50 or 60 amp output for the truck. Forget the 620 they were only 35 amp.

The '78-'80 A10 (HL510) used a 50 or 60 amp alt. with the L20B motor.

The '81 A10 used a 50/60 amp with the Z20S motor

The '78-'83 200sx used a 60 amp

 

I've said this many many times... "A used genuine stock Nissan part is better than a re-manufactured or auto supply part!!!" Go to a wrecking yard and find one of the above alts for $30 and away you go. You will have to unplug your external regulator and add two jumpers.

 

________________________________________________

 

If its the same style as the Naps-z24. Then get a VG30 alternator. Higher output IIRC. Same fitment and same wire connector.

 

The VG alts may have a serpentine belt type pulley on it.

 

got a z22 myself, grabbed a lifetime one from shucks about a year ago, no problems yet.

 

I've seen some lifetime warranty alts replaced 3-4 times. What good is it if the alt leaves you stranded and you need a tow or boost plus the bother of changing it..... even if there is free replacement.

[Spades]

Any alternator in a Nissan after '77 were internally regulated. I can't believe you were using the 510 external regulator type alternator.

 

 

I wasn't, these are internally regulated alternators....the internal regulator on them keeps going bad. That's the reason I keep swapping them out...I wish it was as easy as replacing a regulator or upgrading to a internally regulated model.

 

Does anyone know if the 200sx 60amp is a direct bolt in(or at least close)? I can get the 80's 200sx 60amp alternator from both of my suppliers, so if it is a close fit I will do that(I have had to return 2 alternators out of the hundreds we have replaced over the last 3 years, a bit better than 3 replacements in less than 2 months).

 

P.S. I am with mike, these Endurance alternators are lifetime warranty, but I am sick of them leaving me stranded and after the 3rd replacement, I don't care if the warranty is 5 minutes or the rest of my life, I am done with them.

[datzenmike]

Ah. Get a good used one from a 720 or any from the list. Make sure it's an original, usually with a shiny foil label with blue or black lettering saying Hitachi 12 volt 50 amp.

[Unclejesse88]

Did I read right that you are running key on power to the field? By field I hope you mean regulator turn on circuit, which should be the lamp circuit. Battery voltage to the field will fry the alternator quickly. The field terminal should only be used for alternator max output testing. . . Briefly. I recently installed a 04 frontier ka24de 70 amp alternator on my L16. It was a direct bolt on (the "t" connector had to be changed over to the new style connector). I don't know how the L16 compares to the NAPS setup though. I bought a Hitachi reman. I figure they built the alternator the first time, so they should know how to re manufacture it.

[Old Buzzard]

Hi, new to the board, thought I'd chime in...I am running a 1995 or so Ford Taurus 3g alt in my 1981 720 4x4 truck with a z22 motor. It was a pretty simple swap and I'm getting about 130 amps output. My stereo was making the old alt bounce the gauge a little too much. After I put in the 3g the gauge doesn't budge when I turn on all possible electronics, stays solidly on 14 volts.

[banzai510(hainz)]

since you have a Napz motor and most those alternator use the same T connector. say 81-83 200sx.

 

I hope you have the jumper wires where the old volt reg was(since this is a 510) where you jumper the wht/red with the wht/blk and short out the yellow and wht wire I belive. Just plug male shorting wires in the female connector where the old volt reg pluged into.

 

Buy a Remanufactured Nissan unit from the dealer. Or try a beck Arney remanufacture.

 

 

I dont get all the routing wire stuff your doing. This is a simple system.

 

 

I hope your not running the old external volt reg with a IR alternator.!!!!!!!

[Spades]

ok, I should clarify, I am running the regulator turn on field wire from where the old external voltage regulator was, and it is getting a field voltage signal from the indicator lamp circuit with the key in the on position. There is no more external voltage regulator, I removed it when I put the new engine in.

 

The field wire to the indicator lamp was white-red, I ran the wire to the field on the alternator. I ran it according to the wiring diagrams that were posted on the forums and dime quarterly's article on swapping to a internally regulated alternator. The charge light indicator on the dash works.

 

Now, the question I have is this: is what I read wrong? do you not want a constant 12 volt signal going to the alternator sense input? If that is the problem, I will run the sense wire to a Acc/on circuit so it will not have a constant 12v to it.

 

One other thing I noticed...is that field/lamp wire supposed to have a constant 12v through it? if not, that may be the problem, because as soon as the key is on, it has 12.6v through it. If it is supposed to be 5v or something on the lamp/field wire, that may be what is causing the problem.

 

 

 

P.S. the reason I ran new wires was because I was afraid there may have been a short or problem with the original wiring. I wanted to remove that possibility. As far as reman choices, I only have a option to get a bosch or endurnce reman for this specific application. If I use a 200sx alternator I can get just about any brand I want.

[Unclejesse88]

You are right, the sense wire should be a constant fused 12 volt source. It only has draw on it when the alternator is on. The lamp circuit is a switched 12 volt circuit. I was confused with your post because you kept saying field wire. The "field" wire is internal to the alt, but gets it's 12 volts from the sense wire. Some alts have a "field" terminal on the case. This terminal is used to "full field" the alt to test it's max output. This test is brief, to keep from frying the alt. You could try using an inductive ammeter to see how many amps the alt is putting out, to see if maybe you have a draw that is taxing the alt shortening it's life. Also, measuring voltage needs to be done with a load on the circuit. To load test your sense and lamp circuits, unplug them at the alt. Jumper into the "t" connector with a headlamp bulb. Connect the other terminal of the headlamp to ground. Turn the key on, and the headlamp should light up bright. (it may be a bit dimmer on the lamp circuit, because they are in series). At any rate, if the wires can turn on a headlamp, they can turn on the alt.

[Spades]

You are right, the sense wire should be a constant fused 12 volt source. It only has draw on it when the alternator is on. The lamp circuit is a switched 12 volt circuit. I was confused with your post because you kept saying field wire. The "field" wire is internal to the alt, but gets it's 12 volts from the sense wire. Some alts have a "field" terminal on the case. This terminal is used to "full field" the alt to test it's max output. This test is brief, to keep from frying the alt. You could try using an inductive ammeter to see how many amps the alt is putting out, to see if maybe you have a draw that is taxing the alt shortening it's life. Also, measuring voltage needs to be done with a load on the circuit. To load test your sense and lamp circuits, unplug them at the alt. Jumper into the "t" connector with a headlamp bulb. Connect the other terminal of the headlamp to ground. Turn the key on, and the headlamp should light up bright. (it may be a bit dimmer on the lamp circuit, because they are in series). At any rate, if the wires can turn on a headlamp, they can turn on the alt.

 

sorry for the confusion with the field wire. so, the sense wire is to a fused 12v source by the fuse panel. the other wire is going to the white-red wire off of the dash alternator lamp circuit. I have used our shops VAT40 (load tester with a carbon pile) to watch the voltage and amps the alternators have put out, and they have all worked great for a couple weeks.

 

Also, the car is only running lights, sometimes the stock heater blower motor, electric fuel pump(used a lab scope to watch the wave form, good pattern w/ a 5.5 amp draw), and a high voltage ignition coil. I have run draw tests, and I do not have a draw. My gutted wagon does not have anything added, doesn't even have a stereo.

 

I have not been able to find anything wrong with my car, and after numerous rewiring, load test, draw tests, and watching the car with the VAT40, a multi-meter, and a lab scope...I have yet to find anything wrong with the car.

 

anyone have any other ideas on anything else I can double check? at this point it is looking like the endurance alternators I was getting were of poor quality, because I cannot find anything else wrong. The alternators (except the first one out of the box that didn't work at all) have all worked well, until the the internal regulator in the alternators seem to stop working intermittently.

 

thanks for all the help everyone!

[banzai510(hainz)]

http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=124&size=big&papass=&sort=1

 

by a nissan alternator!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I was told that 3 out of 5 alternators are bad in the box!!!!!!!!!!!from your local mass market parts store.

[Spades]

 

by a nissan alternator!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I was told that 3 out of 5 alternators are bad in the box!!!!!!!!!!!from your local mass market parts store.

 

well, depends on the brand....autolites and a couple other brands are less than 10% fail.

[Unclejesse88]

If you used the vat40 to test, then I would say you are at the point of putting in a better alternator. Buy the nissan one, or as I posted above, you can look for a hitachi. Denso should be a good brand as well