Thread: D2a being naughty AGAIN !

X2 Troy’s comments.

I bought one the other week after sweating and cursing, removing wheel nuts to do a tyre rotation. Sooooo easy now. It will be living in the car now for any trips.

And having commonality in batteries and chargers with my other Ryobi products in great.

Cheers

steve

So following hub replacement, nanocom cleared all faults, and then I got 'two amigos" - DHA and traction control. I couldn't clear them, and was thinking there must now be an issue with the ABS modulator.

Driving home on Tuesday, traffic jam queue ahead, braked pretty hard and chucked a pretty aggressive U-turn to go the back way. Lot's of dash lights came on, ABS, battery light and lot's of amigo's !

Ten later in the traffic jam (bit I couldn't avoid due to bridge) the M & S lights flashing and into limp mode she went. The battery light came on every time I braked, and Nanocom showed the car was not charging, a fault message saying cable not connected. Battery had no charge and would not start again once got home.

Went home had a look and a fiddle, sprayed the alternator with a load of WD-40, didn't seem overly oily, and left battery on charge overnight. Next day, the car started as normal, no warning lights at all and has run fine.

I have since been charging battery when at home, had no warning lights on at all since charged battery. However, the volts on the Nanocom are about 12 - 13 when start-up, and over a 10 minute drive, then gradaully drop, sometimes staying just over 12, other times dropping to 11.50V or thereabouts. The battery warning light is not coming on, even though the nanocom is displaying under 12V.

I did post something related to fuses, but this seems to be all tied together, hence the continuation of this thread. Could this be a case of my alternator is just failing to produce enough volts ?

Think worth mentioning I was playing with the nanocom, engine running in driveway, looking for specific battery outputs, and saw the Volts had gone up to 13.5, and there was a change to the engine note, like something was now connected that wasn't being driven before, I guess almost like a belt that was no longer slipping, was putting additional strain on the engine and volts increased.

Not sure what to do now, other than take the alternator out over the weekend and give a clean, I replaced the regulator and brushes about 6 months back on it, and has not missed a beat since. Is it an alternator issue, or could it be the drive belt or belt tensioner is not doing it's job properly. Has me stumped and they are the ones that really annoy you most. If anyone can provide any tips or ideas for what to check, it would be a great help. Plan to work on it tomorrow and see what (if anything) I can do. I am loather to buy a new alternator if I can avoid, and especially on basis it might not be the required fix.

Many thanks as always. Matt.

I replaced the brushes in my alternator about 15,000K's ago because it was charging at below 12v, It still comes up to 14.2v on startup and sits on about 13.8 after a while now.
The brushes were about $30 to buy and the job IS fiddly and it involves the use of a soldering iron But give it a go and If it works it will save you hundreds of $'s

I just spoke to Discovery Spares in Ringwood, always very helpful, when I said about the engine tone changing, he said it would be the alternator brushes. Having already changed the bushes and regulator, he said it is probably the rings, and I don't think it is possible to fix that. When I changed the brushes, the ring was worn in places, I wish I had taken a photo.

So not looking good.

How many kays Mr Gooner? two sets of brushes = new alternator? Hmm.

to be honest we dont get many alternator issues,, usually its bad earths and in rare cases new brushes.. not sure I've read about anyone actually wearing out a set of rings...

anyone?

When i replaced the brushes in my alternator all i had to do with the ring gear was to give it a light sand, The bearings were also still in good order at 250,000K's.
I have had to replace the alternator on my 79 series and 2004 hilux and the alternators on both of these trucks were stuffed with the bearings and ring gear rendered US by dirt/moisture entering the units , Due mainly to the stupid placement of the alternator at the bottom of the engine.
The D2a alternator had done very similar mileage to the 2x Toyotas But all it needed was a set of brushes Not a complete replacement alternator

Took the alternator out and the brushes were worn, one especially, almost as if it had broken off. So was happy at that point. Then had a good look at the rings and they seem worn out, looks like it has worn through the copper and the surface of the inner ring especially was rough, and has to be why the replacement brushes have worn so quick. I have posted a couple of photos, and please confirm if you think it has run its course and a new alternator is needed.

thinking about a second hand one, or Britpart or Bearmach, but thinking really I have to bite the bullet and go for a Denso. Any thoughts or recommendations very happily received. Matt (in a bad mood !)

Yes those slip rings are knackered. They are replaceable. Most auto elecs have common ones in stock .also if they run out of true they will destroy brushes.