Hi all,

Back 2 months later with what I thought was a solved issue. I've had this 240 wagon since the end of January and posted back then about the car shutting down after running off of the battery. After hunting down a static drain from a fried radio, pulled that fuse and the car's been running fine since, sans music. Dash lights all on as normal with key in on postion. Starts fine.

Well now didn't that happen again now. Dash lights flickered, battery died, car died. Alt light does not come on with key now.

What I've done -
Fully charged battery. Cleaned battery terminals and terminal where small red wire attaches to alternator. Car start but doesn't charge. Belts are OK.

What I haven't done yet -
Checked/cleaned all other wires. Pulled dummy light.

My question -
I put an alternator in a '97 Subarau not long ago and that car is junk. Can I pull that alternator and put it in my 240?

Any other suggestions would be great - I can't really spend any time until Saturday morning.

Thanks,
Bill

The danger is how the alt from our donor car regulates. You Bosch Alt uses an excite current from the dash light. Besides the fit and alignment you need to worry about that. You can get a 100 watt remanufactured Alt for $100 and it bolts right in and works just fine.

You may just have a bad set of brushes and those are cheap and easy. You just remove the Negative Lead of the battery and remove the two screws. You ease the old one out and ease the new one in. You fire the car back up and check the voltage. You will know really fast if that was the problem.

Good luck and keep the lights on,

Paul

Kohn's Corollary to Murphy's Law: Two wrongs are only the beginning.

Make sure the small red wire to D+ on the alternator is in good condition. May be brushes and or voltage regulator. Dan

Not again you would think I'd remember that from one day to the next!! Dan

I just bought a used alternator on eBay for $20. It was a rebuild and obviously has very few miles on it. You can look for such deals there or at your local salvage yard, or you can pull the voltage regulator out of the back of your alternator and just replace that, which may solve its issues. The VR is under $30 I believe at www.fcpgroton.com or www. eeuroparts.com or you local foreign car part store. The Suby alternator will not likely bolt into your 240, maybe one from another euro car (if German Bosch) but not from a Japanese car. You sure the problem is actually the radio, or an ignition switch problem? How did you come to the conclusion that it was the radio? That seems very unusual.
Charles

No increased voltage at the battery after running?

Could very well be the Brushes in your alterbator. 20 years old... if they are original and the car has over 200K miles on it, they may be 'done'. $6 for replacement brushes. not a hard job.

I think you found the Smoking Gun with the Radio.. this is a new issue.



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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

Before I left for work this morning I started her up. All the dash lights came on before startup. Shut it off and tried again - this time just check engine for a short time and the oil dummy stayed on until start. Third verse, same as the second. All three times all dash lights flickered while the car was running. Can I rule out the Alt/Reg for now and look for some bad wiring? I'll have most of the day tomorrow and the weather on my side to mess with this.

As for the radio, it quit working, all but the LED clock, right after I bought the car. Volt meter and fuse pulling found my static drain on that circuit. That fuse and the radio have been pulled for 2 months. No int. lights and whatever else is on that circuit I haven't found yet, but its been too cold and rainy to bother with trivials.

Thanks,
Bill

"Can I rule out the Alt/Reg[?]"

I'd say No, because it seems to me that you're not aware that the alternator brushes are included as part of the replaceable Voltage regulator. And the brushes (a "wear item") are essential to the alternator's ability to generate voltage

While the brushes can be replaced separately for less money ($6.00?), a new VR with it's included brushes (about $30) saves time and avoids the hassle of a (possibly botched) soldering job.

Below is a "canned comment" on the Warning Lights and how they relate to the Alternator...[today's additions are in brackets like this]

=======================>
Those warning lights [when running] mean the Alternator is not "putting out", and you're running off the battery — who is getting sick of it, since all it's meant to to do is crank the car for starting. The warning lights [with "hard-wired" +12V on one side] are connected to the alternator D+ terminal via a thinnish red wire—which does two things:

1- It makes a ground path for the Batt light (and three others*, via diode connections) to and through the alternator to ground. [ground path includes the brushes]

This warning light current flowing through the alternator causes it to produce voltage as it "spins up" from a stand-still.

2- It also carries Alternator voltage back up to warning lights to turn them OFF once the Alternator is putting out voltage — when the D+ terminal (that was a ground) rises to Alternator B+ level. With voltage now on both sides of those bulbs, no current flows through them and they go out.

* The other bulbs whose current adds to that of the Batt light are:
• Parking Brake
• Brake Warning
• Bulb Failure
<========================
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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

I would replace the brushes and check wiring. Brushes are inexpensive and should be replaced as part of regular maintenance. I would say about 150K miles is the limit on brushes.

--
Mr. Shannon DeWolfe -- (I've taken to using Mr. because my name tends to mislead folks on the WWW. I am a 52 year old fat man

Shannon,

Would it be a safer bet to replace the whole regulator just to rule out? Do you know if this is something a retail parts store is likely to have?

Thanks,
Bill

NAPA will be able to get you a VR for sure.
Charles

yeah, NAPA's price is $72. I found a local generator guy who has them in stock, but won't sell direct to me, I'm going to pull the alt. and see him tomorrow. He said it'd probably be $35 or $40 to fix. Not sure whether he meant replacing the reg. or just the brushes, we'll see.

Ed's generator replaced my brushes and cleaned everything up for $26. Alternator's back in and good to go. One thing - a large washer came from somewhere while I was pulling the alt. Any ideas where it goes?

Thanks all,
Bill

That washer goes on the backside of the rear bushing at the bottom (long) through bolt.
Charles

Thanks, I'll put it back