Warning about cheap alternators !!!

[ohiorover]

I've learned a valuable lesson. After three years, off and on under the hood and a "few" dollars I thought I'd pass this story along.

It all started in the middle of hurricane Ivan in Sept of 2004, while running away from the approaching storm my alternator gave out somewhere near Mobile Alabama. My only choice was an AutoZone rebuild which I thought I would replace when time allowed. A quick install in the parking lot and I was ready to go. I never replaced it and on a long road trip a year later, to do a little camping, I smelled sulfur, hmmmmm. Damn dog!?!

Popped the hood and the battery was basically boiling, WTF? Too much charge? Bad battery? No warning lights were on. ???
Made the mistake of going a few miles to a safer location and POP,flash of light,POP!!! Everything went dead, everything!!!

Later I learned the voltage regulator in the alternator had gone bad. Now I was faced with a larger problem, three relays in various secret locations throughout the truck were cooked along with all fuses under the passenger seat. The relay on the firewall was fused with the harness, looked like a lighting strike.

Time for a long tow home, oh and without power to release the safety solenoid, I somehow have to get the transfer case out of park in the middle of a driving rain, oh and its midnight. You could say the little honey I was taking camping was not impressed.

After a month of hunting down wires and fixing a condenser fan motor that was grounded, the black beast was living again.

"Little" things still pop up, I just replaced the condenser motor, not cheap nor easy to get to due to a winch, brush bar, lights, ect. Battery cables since the fusible link got smoked a few times. Ignition switch release could have been old. Thanks to Paul Grant for the replacement. Oh and the A/c fan speed cigar thingy that’s impossible to get to unless you have tiny hands and happen to be a left handed monkey. If you've replaced one you know what I'm talking about.
On the good side, I think I can find every relay and fuse in a 1991 RRC. For some reason the clock actually works and keeps time, must have needed the jump start

I know I should have let the battery cool or at least disconnected the damn alternator. If you're running a cheap alternator you might get away with it, or you might not. Hope this helps someone. Charles.

[stevo-II]

Yeap, had the same thing happen on a boat once, the regulator stuck wide open, the poor battery was sucking up amps as fast as it could to keep the voltage near 14V, eventually the isolator fuse between the battery and the rest of the electrical system (minus the starter) blew and the voltage spiked to "who knows what" lots of flash bulbs went off (all the lights in the dask) and we were dead in the water......sucks