alternator and battery light

**flagg** · 29th December 2010, 06:10 PM

Hi all,

Today my battery light started to stay illuminated much longer than usual after startup. Previously it went out after 4-5 seconds of the engine running, but now stays on for a 1min or more. (86 Isuzu County)

Is my alternator on its way out? The battery is 2 years old.

Cheers

**Bearman** · 29th December 2010, 06:20 PM

Could be the brushes are on the way out. How long since you changed them? What alternator is it? Usually they flicker a bit when they start to fail, and sometimes revving a little makes it go out as they make contact with the commutator.

**JDNSW** · 29th December 2010, 08:11 PM

This is also a symptom of a loose fan belt, so that is the first thing I would check!

John

**Nathan** · 29th December 2010, 08:39 PM

Mine did this for 12 months or so until one day recently... the alternator died completely.

Nathan

**flagg** · 29th December 2010, 09:48 PM

Originally Posted by Bearman

Could be the brushes are on the way out. How long since you changed them? What alternator is it? Usually they flicker a bit when they start to fail, and sometimes revving a little makes it go out as they make contact with the commutator.

Thanks Bearman,

I've never changed or serviced the bushes. Its the 40amp Nippon unit. I think I will have to upgrade it - it doesn't seem to like long drives on hot nights with AC and head lights..

**Bearman** · 29th December 2010, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by flagg

Thanks Bearman,

I've never changed or serviced the bushes. Its the 40amp Nippon unit. I think I will have to upgrade it - it doesn't seem to like long drives on hot nights with AC and head lights..

Definitely need to upgrade to a bigger one if you have aircon. I don't how to paste the link, but there are aftermarket ones on ebay at the moment for $116 + $127 freight from the US. They are 12V- 70A internal regulator, which is what mine is and I run AC plus spotties and a lot of electrics and this handles it fine. The item number is 350426080482. Will fit straight in where the Nippondenso is on the 4BD1.

**flagg** · 2nd January 2011, 03:03 PM

Cheers Brian, don't want to cause any problems so I've ordered the one from Ebay.

Is the plug on the back of the unit the same?

**Bearman** · 2nd January 2011, 04:51 PM

It should have a 3 pin socket and a B (+)terminal. Not sure what yours has as I think yours will have an external regulator. However they will interchange easily. If you don't have a wiring diagram you may need an auto leccie to wire it for you or maybe someone on here can help with the wiring. I see the ones from USA are getting cheaper by the day to the level that the freight is dearer than the alternator.

Thread: alternator and battery light

Thread Tools

alternator and battery light

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions