XPost: sci.electronics.design, sci.electronics.equipment, sci.electronics.misc   
   XPost: sci.electronics.repair   
   From: NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com   
      
   On Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:31:57 -0800, Sparky  wrote:   
      
   >> No, ONE a shorted diode would cause huge currents in the winding   
   >> connected to that phase.  Two shorted diodes on the same   
   >> phase would cause huge DC currents and blow the fusible link.   
   >>   
   >> Jon   
   >   
   >Ah. Then might be one shorted diode... Should probably upgrade alternator to   
   >a higher-amp one that can handle the car's load more easily.   
      
   Do you have one or both old alternators?   How about checking out the   
   diodes in them?   
      
   I try to fix everything that breaks myself.  I'll let something stay   
   broken for years while I try to figure out how to fix it, rather than   
   pay someone.   Of course I can't let the car stay broken for more than a   
   day.   
      
   When my brother gave me his car, he had a problem with a battery that   
   repeatedly went dead, for more than two years, ever since he bought the   
   car new.  It came with a 2-year warranty and the dealer had replaced the   
   alternator, the regulator, and the battery, each of them twice, and   
   still the problem.   Then the dealer said the warranty had expired and   
   wouldn't do anymore.   
      
   Annoyed, he gave me the car.   It had a another bad battery by this time   
   and I took it to Sears.  They said do you want our free 235,000 point   
   multi-check?  I said, No, just a battery.  He said, It's free.   I said   
   okay.   And in less than 5 minutes he found the problem that the dealer   
   couldn't find in 2 years.      In my case it was a bad connection at the   
   starter motor with the + battery cable.    He took it apart and cleaned   
   it**.    I don't know what the problem is with yours but sometimes it   
   pays to pay someone.    Also many people tend to spend all their time on   
   the big parts and not enough on the wires between them.   
      
      
   **I also bought a new battery, but it's cleaning it that made it work   
   fine, until months later, I left the headlights on all night. Jumped the   
   battery and ran the car an hour but it still wouldn't start the next   
   day.  I had to crawl underneath, take the cable off, clean everything   
   and put it back.    Until the next time I left the lights on.   
   Eventually I learned, even in good clothes, to just stick my arm   
   underneath, grab the battery cable and pull it back and forth, rotating   
   on the stater motor stud, once or twice, and then the car would run fine   
   until the next time I left the lights on.   I've run down the battery by   
   leaving the lights on  on other cars without having any endruing   
   problem. I don't know what made this car different, but my point is that   
   Sears found the problem in less than 5 minutes.   
      
   He gave me the car when he went to Viet Nam, in 1967, but the story   
   still applies.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)