Hi everyone.

I'm needing an alternator for my 70 Vista Cruiser. Who has a good one these days? I usually go to NAPA for electrical stuff, but after buying a distributor at NAPA for twice what it would have been at AutoZone, I found out the one at AutoZone was exactly the same one. And came with a new cap and rotor.

Any stores sell NON chinesium alternators these days, or should I look up an auto electric place and get one there?

Also, the regulator smokes almost immediately upon startup. Bought a new regulator and it does the same thing. The alt is what's obvious to me to change next. I know the battery is no good, would that have anything to do with it?

Thanks everyone.

 

I would take the alternator off, and have it tested at Autozone, Advanced, or any one of the other auto parts stores that have testing equipment. If you have "smoked" 2 regulators, you might have a wiring issue. My experience with burned out diodes in alternators, is that it is usually a short of some type that caused the diodes to go bad. You can't just look at an alternator to determine if it is defective. It has to be tested first, and then repaired. Also before you install the replacement, look for a wire that has rubbed through that might be shorting out the alternator or the regulator. If you have a dead battery, and the alternator is trying to put a charge into it, and the battery has a short in the cells, that can blow your alternator also. If you disconnect the battery while the engine is running, that is another thing that can kill your alternator. Hooking up battery cables in reverse (i.e. negative to positive) will definitely blow out the alternator. If you are not guilty of any of these things, then I would be carefully looking for the cause first before installing the new alternator. Most auto parts stores don't guarantee electrical parts once you walk out with them, so you are kind of on your own in this matter.
If you have an original alternator that your car came with, I wouldn't turn it in for the core, because someone that cares about a numbers matching car, would probably be interested in purchasing it from you. If you care about a numbers matching car, then have your old one serviced by a local shop that does alternator repair.

 

So your "troubleshooting" plan involves throwing parts at the car until one of them fixes the problem? How about not buying anything and troubleshooting first? If your problem is a short in the wiring, you stand a good chance of smoking that brand new alternator also.

What does "regulator smokes" mean? Does it literally produce smoke?

 

Yes, and yes. I work on airplanes so I know throwing parts at a problem is not the first line of defense. However, I need this car to run pretty quickly and I don't want to set it on fire and don't have a lot of time to chase wires. So an alternator seemed like a fair compromise.

Maybe ten seconds after startup smoke comes from the back of the regulator. Unplug the reg and the smoke stops. A cursory look of the wiring doesn't show anything abnormal. The current alt is not the original. I would think, though, that if there were a bad wire the smoke would be coming from the bad part of the wire. Who knows.

Thanks for the input.

 

If you have a mechanical regulator, there are resistors (wire wound) that will smoke when new, or if there is something on or touching the resistor like oil water or undercoating. If it is a new reg, give it a few minutes to burn off. It is normal for a new one to smoke for a few minutes. Is it charging ok and just smoking? If it is charging ok, give the new reg a chance to burn in. Get a battery 1st thing even before you decide to get an alternator. The alt may not be bad. Get a good battery and then make some tests on the charging system.

 

Yeah, fully charge a good battery with an external charger before putting it in the car.

 

You can have a battery and an alternator tested at local auto parts stores. They can test the alternator on the car or on their machine in the store. I suggest taking the battery and alternator in and having them tested. If one of them is bad then replace it, if they are both good then it's time for plan 2.

 

Or you can just check to see that it is putting out about 13.5-14V fully loaded, at about 2,000 RPM, or test it following the recommendations in the Chassis Service Manual, to get a full picture of how every part is working.

Joe and Stellar pretty much said it all at the beginning.

And didn't replacement regulators used to come with a little slip of paper in the box that said that smoking from the oil coating on the resistor wire was normal for the first few minutes?

- Eric