ElmoIsBold

Gents, etc.

I'm still developing confidence in my 1954 Super 88 after recently getting it running (parked in Quonset hut since 1968). Until yesterday I was afraid to venture too far from home because of generator noise. The worst of the noise came when the trannie downshifted to the lower gears coming to a stop sign or light. The noise also went ON when the lights went ON, and OFF when the lights went OFF.

But yesterday I went over the system with a multimeter and everything seems to be roughly okay: 13-14VDC at the battery (car and ignition system off), very roughly (I didn't write this down) 20VAC going into the voltage regulator (car running, of course), and 13VDC (plus a little, actually) coming out of the regulator. These seem reasonable to me, even without checking specs (shop manual says "Under driving conditions the dash ammeter may show from one to thirty amperes plus charge, depending upon the condition of the battery and the lamp load."). Also yesterday, after putting about 50 miles on the car, the weirdest of the generator noises is gone (thought it was bearings at first), and now it's only....well, noisy, or at least louder than you'd expect a new alternator to be (maybe these things never were as quiet as modern devices - maybe brushes are just plain noisy).

My question is this: what is the ammeter supposed to show during various phases of starting and running the car? Owner manual has a picture showing about 5A.

What I'm seeing is a big draw during start, following by about a 15A charge right after start, but a bit later, it shows right in the middle, and it stays there the rest of the time I drive, though if I look hard, and use a little imagination, I could say it's actually showing a very slight charge.

Is that all normal? My 2000 Ford Expedition normally shows either zero when OFF or some good charge ALWAYS when running, so I'm a little uneasy seeing something so different here.

MDchanic

Your ammeter is reading the way an ammeter is supposed to read.

In your post, you have used the terms "alternator" and "generator" interchangeably, so it is impossible to know whether you are using an original generator or a retrofitted alternator.

The sound you describe sure sounds like bearings to me.
I would disassemble the generator (or alternator), check the bearings, and replace them if necessary - you wouldn't want something simple like that to strand you.

Oh... and,

Welcome! Happy Easter!

Now you need to post PICTURES .

- Eric

rustyroger

Eric is right, the charging system is working fine but the generator (dynamo or alternator, it doesn't matter what you have) needs new bearings.
While its apart you might as well give it a complete overhaul anyway, just because it's working now it might be worn to the edge of failure.

Roger.

ElmoIsBold

Definitely a generator, guys. I only used the word "alternator" once to indicate that all the alternators I'm used to on my cars a pretty quiet compared to this generator.

I see that new brush kits are not hard to come by. Are the necessary tools (stone, for example) available? Where? I don't see those online.

Don't have much to look at yet, except for two videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S_HqtT-Qt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J-vWihSIzs

I'll start the generator job as soon as I get the kit and tools.

Thanks, guys.

Keith