ALTERNATOR TIP.

[Landyseverywhere]

Thought my experience may help others avoid roadside problems,sometime ago I had an alternator fail the night before I was due to drive home from Spain (around 500 miles).fortunately I had a little 2 stroke generator a spare battery and a small battery charger,managed to wire generator in back of van to battery under bonnet via charger,and as generator had separate 12v charging outlet connected this to spare battery by leaving generator running in back ( full factory bulkhead fitted cab windows wide open) with a few battery swops I got home !On inspection of the alternator I found the very worn brushes had broken up,so a new regulator/brush pack (about £15 inc delivery) fitted and all good.Since then I have changed cambelts and clutches on 2 other vans and while doing so have checked the alternator brushes to find both very worn so have preemptively changed them ,all 3 vans had done around 120 k miles and all were bosh alternators ,as a new alternator is around £200 let alone breakdown costs and hassle ,I would suggest for the sake of checking a lot of cost and agro could be saved.
One more thing worth noting none of these vehicles had been converted to MH's at the time..so it would be fair to assume a MH alternator works harder due to aux electrical items,so may be worth checking earlier.

 

[Clunegapyears]

Had a dodgy alternator on a Ford Escort 100 years ago. carried an axe round in the passenger footwell. Used to have to bash the alternator to get it started. Slightly concerned looks from passers-by

 

[Bigbarry]

Had a dodgy alternator on a Ford Escort 100 years ago. carried an axe round in the passenger footwell. Used to have to bash the alternator to get it started. Slightly concerned looks from passers-by

Reminds me of a Morris Traveler petrol pump problem where the contacts would stick, I used to get out of the car with hammer in hand and walk towards the back of the car, always brought a startled response from whoever was behind me until I laid down at the back gave the pump a sharp tap and be reassured by the following tick of pump activation

 

[Okta]

Can’t help thinking that running a generator anywhere onboard is risking Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Not something I think should be recommended as a solution that others might try.

 

[RV2MAX]

I had alt failure (turned out to be a terminal corroded) in my RV (12mtr) just before boarding ferry , had to use aux start jump switch (uses hab batteries standard on most RVs) same to leave ferry , night arrival , before getting to aire , was going to limp mode on transmission , but started on board gennie , and then used aux start to boost to chassis battery
to get volts up to get back to normal mode . I was able to sort the problem on the aire
Its worth remembering you have reserve battery power in hab batteries to get you out of trouble .

 

[Carrerasax]

Thought my experience may help others avoid roadside problems,sometime ago I had an alternator fail the night before I was due to drive home from Spain (around 500 miles).fortunately I had a little 2 stroke generator a spare battery and a small battery charger,managed to wire generator in back of van to battery under bonnet via charger,and as generator had separate 12v charging outlet connected this to spare battery by leaving generator running in back ( full factory bulkhead fitted cab windows wide open) with a few battery swops I got home !On inspection of the alternator I found the very worn brushes had broken up,so a new regulator/brush pack (about £15 inc delivery) fitted and all good.Since then I have changed cambelts and clutches on 2 other vans and while doing so have checked the alternator brushes to find both very worn so have preemptively changed them ,all 3 vans had done around 120 k miles and all were bosh alternators ,as a new alternator is around £200 let alone breakdown costs and hassle ,I would suggest for the sake of checking a lot of cost and agro could be saved.
One more thing worth noting none of these vehicles had been converted to MH's at the time..so it would be fair to assume a MH alternator works harder due to aux electrical items,so may be worth checking earlier.

Well ventilated I am sure!!!

 

[trevskoda]

Also look for tracking on the alt comutator as the brushes wear them out at about 100 th miles.