new alternator...

[spook420]

just threw on a new over the weekend and i think it hooked up right...i cant read the diagram(or any electrical diagram for that matter) but now it seem that the 'charge' light on the dash is on constant. for the most part the battery lead and ground are hooked up the same way. if its not hooked up right would this light be on like it is? also should i change out the voltage regulator with it?

 

 

 

 

i get back on here over the next hour and put some pictures up to better explain this matter. im at work so i will be back!!

[ggzilla]

Why did you replace the alternator? If it wasn't charging that could have been the regulator, or the alternator but rarely both.

 

Or perhaps they gave you the wrong alternator. If the back of the alternator has a S and an L connector, it's the wrong one.

[spook420]

i changed it cause the bearing was going bad(squealing like a little pig). im not a wiz mechanic like some of these guy here and just change out the bearing. beside when i take the old one back its only going to be $20 when its said and done with. that not a bad investment if you ask me.

 

i was asking if i SHOULD change out the voltage regulator with the new alternator. ive heard its best to do that. this is the diagram that came with the paper work. connected the F and N plug back how it should be. connected the BATT connection back the way it should be. and NOT in the diagram there was an E on new alt.(also on the old one, im guessing ground) and connected that back where it should be.i was going to keep the old one for a week or two before i took it back to see how this one work out.

 

 

 

does anybody have a pic for the location of the regulator.

[banzai510(hainz)]

take the alternator to Napa and have it Load cked

 

new alternators are about 35$ and ck them there before leaving.

 

 

Volt regs dont usually go bad. But EZ to ck ewith e volt meter. If a over volt condition usually is a bad Regulator

[spook420]

take the alternator to Napa and have it Load cked

 

new alternators are about 35$ and ck them there before leaving.

 

 

Volt regs dont usually go bad. But EZ to ck ewith e volt meter. If a over volt condition usually is a bad Regulator

 

 

it is a NEW alt. no im not take this thing back off it took over 2 hrs just to bolt this thing on. the 2 bottom bolts didnt line up right and was a lot of fussing and cussing to get it bolted up. taking it back off is not an option. i dont have a volt meter and couldnt read one if i did. like i said i dont even know how to read electrical wiring diagram.

 

kinda in a bind here. i dont want to wake up tomorrow and have a dead battery.

[banzai510(hainz)]

510 alts should take no more than 15-30 mins to take out. Most 510s have the dust plate removed already underneather. so you can pull from the top .

 

watch this

 

 

meters are about 10-30$ for a basic Chinese made model digital but on 20volt scale should be accurate enough.

 

 

Unfortunaly you dont have a spare volt reg you can swap out. as I would at least try it.(I always a a few new spares)

But soembody told me that 3 out of 5 alternators can be bad from the box form the partds store. So if your alternator was working just noisey and if you still have it put it back in and if light goes out then you KNOW.The new one is bad. However you might have turned this in as a core and you dont have a spare.

 

Cheapest way is going to give the old alternator back and have it cked. Which will only be your time.

 

Or Buy a volt meter or buy a volt reg or realyy buy both as youll need them one day anyways and esp a volt meter as youll need it anyways in the future.

 

or sell car

[spook420]

510 alts should take no more than 15-30 mins to take out. Most 510s have the dust plate removed already underneather. so you can pull from the top .

 

watch this

 

 

meters are about 10-30$ for a basic Chinese made model digital but on 20volt scale should be accurate enough.

 

 

Unfortunaly you dont have a spare volt reg you can swap out. as I would at least try it.(I always a a few new spares)

But soembody told me that 3 out of 5 alternators can be bad from the box form the partds store. So if your alternator was working just noisey and if you still have it put it back in and if light goes out then you KNOW.The new one is bad. However you might have turned this in as a core and you dont have a spare.

 

Cheapest way is going to give the old alternator back and have it cked. Which will only be your time.

 

Or Buy a volt meter or buy a volt reg or realyy buy both as youll need them one day anyways and esp a volt meter as youll need it anyways in the future.

 

or sell car

sell the car?? that not an option either. yeah it took 10 mins to take out but like i said it took 2 hours to put back in. the 2 bottom bolts didnt line up right and i had to shave down the inside of the bottom mount(on the alt.) to fit it in place and then line up the holes too screw the bolts in(it took all of 2 hours to PUT BACK IN). i did have to bang it a few times w/ a hammer too get it to seat right on the bottom mount. so im thinking that maybe the cause of it going bad.

 

no i dont have a spare voltage regulator. honestly i dont know where its located at. i still have the old alt. but im not putting it back in. it too noisey to drive it with the bearing going way it is.

[banzai510(hainz)]

the volt reg is on the pass side strut facing to wards the front of the car. a metal can looking thing with a rectangle/squareish connector with 6 pins I blieve

 

time for you to get a 510 Haynes Manual and

ck out olddatsuns.com they might have photos on there.

 

 

Yes over time the alternator can get beat up(was loose) and the Alternator ears mold in to the mount evertime it get loose one make it tighter then oblongs the hole ect.....

[spook420]

i have a hayes manual for an L16 complete teardown and rebuild. ive looked front to back for somethings but still its easier to ask these things. ill be back on later thanks for the info for now.

[spook420]

 

 

im assuming your talking about this spot....ive owned this car for 5 months now and have been finding a lot of 'home remedies' from the previous owner. nothing wrong with it but it does explain a lot cause now when either blinker is on it make the 'charge light' dim down when the blinker light is active...so i guess i need a volt regulator. hopefully rock auto got one for the cheap cheap.

[DanielC]

Your car has had the wiring changed to use an internally regulated alternator. If you went and just got a replacement alternator for your make and model of car, you probably got one that requires an external regulator. The previous owner may have also put a non Nissan alternator, and modded the alternator mount to fit the alternator that was there. That may be why it took two hours to put the new alternator back in.

[rayven14]

+1 with Daniel C,

 

I was reading this post thinking 2 hours!!!!! for an altenator? thats a 10-15 minute job. From the looks of things (all the jumper wires) you have/had an upgraded Internally regulated alt in there before. Go get the old one back and use it as a point of reference or get it rebuilt.

[spook420]

that makes since...heres a pic for reference

 

 

thats the area where i had to grind down with a dremel(old alt.)...heres another pic of the old alt.(backside)

 

[spook420]

+1 with Daniel C,

 

I was reading this post thinking 2 hours!!!!! for an altenator? thats a 10-15 minute job. From the looks of things (all the jumper wires) you have/had an upgraded Internally regulated alt in there before. Go get the old one back and use it as a point of reference or get it rebuilt.

 

or get external voltage regulator? i know 2 hours on an alt. my 96 rodeo was a lot easier to change the alt out and i did that 3 times when i owned it. and there wasnt any room to work with..i had to remove the radiator hose just to get it out..

 

like i mentioned i still have the old alt. but i think im sticking with the new one. and from the way it sounds i just need an external volt. regulator.

[ggzilla]

No, you don't normally change the regulator when changing the alternator. But mechanics like to sell more parts so some of them will tell you that.

 

I would buy a new or used regulator and plug it in. Since you modified the alternator, you can't return it.

 

The lesson to be learned here is always compare parts before installing. Sometime they give you the wrong one. Sometime they are marked wrong. Buyer beware.

[spook420]

No, you don't normally change the regulator when changing the alternator. But mechanics like to sell more parts so some of them will tell you that.

 

I would buy a new or used regulator and plug it in. Since you modified the alternator, you can't return it.

 

The lesson to be learned here is always compare parts before installing. Sometime they give you the wrong one. Sometime they are marked wrong. Buyer beware.

 

i may or may not of had a internal voltage regulator on the alt....idk sounds like these guy are saying that it did on the old alt. at this point where the volt reg. should be(in front of the pass. strut) it was rewired to accept the alt. the previous owner put on. so in turn there isnt a external voltage regulator in place. but to me it sounds like i need a external volt. regulator.

[ggzilla]

Agreed.

[kelowg]

looking back might have asked us about those jumpers on reg plug and u would have got it fixed the first time. old alt likely was high amp output. best thing would b do some searching on the forum. get an idea of other options available to u. ie saturn alt swap, cheap jy find. also rebuildable and gm product available most anywhere.

[spook420]

looking back might have asked us about those jumpers on reg plug and u would have got it fixed the first time. old alt likely was high amp output. best thing would b do some searching on the forum. get an idea of other options available to u. ie saturn alt swap, cheap jy find. also rebuildable and gm product available most anywhere.

 

i didnt even know where it was located. $20 for a new alt and ~$30 w/shipping for a new regulator...sold. that's not a bad investment for this car. IMO

[banzai510(hainz)]

OK if thiw was workign before and you swapped cause of the bearing it had to be a INTERNAL VR type alternator as it is also bigger.Looks like 50amper.

 

If you went to parts store and got a L16 small alt it most like will be a EXTERNAL type. 35amper.

 

 

Now I dont know what motor you have in there.

L16s had a smaller hole type alternator mount. thus the holes the for the L16 alt were smaller.

The bigger Alt had bigger HOLES close to 3/8 size. So putting a bigger hole size alt on a smaller hole size alt mount will bouce in th hole and oblong them. Or you buy a L16 size alt and you have a L20b size mount with 3/8 you got to drill out the alt ear holes.

 

Its up to you what you do But I would have ordered a 200sx(CAR!!!) 1979 alternator and should have been a perfect replacement what you have already.

[spook420]

I have a L16 and i did get it from the parts store. i called them that morning and i remember looking at this one:

 

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_alternator--60-amps-worldwide_5843294-p?searchTerm=altnator#fragment-2

 

judgeing from the price and pic on the website that most likely it. i ll have to double check it when i get home. im pretty confident thats the same one. its is a 50 amp alt. but it requires a ext. volt reg. and thats already been shipped out from rockauto.

 

So putting a bigger hole size alt on a smaller hole size alt mount will bouce in th hole and oblong them

 

thats about how it got put back to together. both bolts are in there nice nad tight and it DIDNT feel like it was crosshtreaded. once i get the volt reg. in the next few days ill know for sure that all its been.

 

together with the alt and volt reg its still been cheaper than some of the other prices from the parts store.

 

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PartSearchCmd?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&pageId=partTypeList&suggestion=&actionSrc=Form&langId=-1&searchTerm=altnator&vehicleIdSearch=-1&searchedFrom=header&redirectedPage=1#storeId=10151&langId=-1&catalogId=10051&vehicleIdSearch=-1&isAllVehicle=true&navigationPath=&sortBy=4&searchTerm=altnator&pageId=ajaxPartList&category=&l1_categoryId=&l2_categoryId=&partType=&beginIndex=0&pageSize=10&filters=&selectedPartNumber=&qty=1&ship2HomeClicked=

[banzai510(hainz)]

goin by your Battery photo I would swap the battery around.

The positive will be safer towards the back incase YOUR BUNGEE CORD is loose and the batter shifts foward when you hit the brakes and the battery shorts out on the hood ,catches Fire and you destroy your wagoon

[spook420]

actually the pos. has a rubber foam tie wrapped to it to prevent that. once this batt. dies ill get a side mounted post. i need a regular battery holder cause the battery shifts under too many g's :D for example theres a hard right hand turn down the street and from me and after i installed the new alt. i forgot to place the bunge down and took that turn sending the batt. into the fan...made all kind of rubbing/knocking sound. i thoght i blew up the alt. or something. kinda scared me.

[spook420]

just installed the voltage regulator and the 'charge light' is off now. but my gas gauge is still a little now working 100%(it reads between 3/4 to 1/2 tanks when its full)i was hoping the new volt. regulator would of fixed it.. i think it may be a sending unit problem. that going to be another task for later on.

[ggzilla]

Fuel gauge has nothing to do with the alternator & voltage regulator or battery charge. It has it's own voltage regulator (the I.P. Voltage Regulator). But more likely it is caused by the sender.