Dear iamhives,

Indeed, the Bosch brush set for the 80-AMP Bosch alternator in your mighty, if relentless (with care) Volvo 240 is probably under 12$ for the set.

I've reused the springs. Use a proper solder and a hot enough soldering gun, iron, pencil and use a higher temperature tin-led solder.

Also, there is a procedure somewheres to use the continuity / resistance feature of your quality multimeter to test the voltage regulator itself.

As Uncle Art says here, please pull the voltage regulator / brush carrier and provide an image. I'd suggest using the BrickPix feature of the brickboard.com to upload and link your images in your response post to Art's directive. The image size as big as you want, so long as the file size is under one megabyte. (In spite of the directions on the BrickPix unloader page. Click BrickPix at the top of the page. Open in a new browser tab or window, enter info, and upload. In your response post, enter the HTML URL into the image URL of the mesage post, or, if you can html use the img src tag, so you can post multiple images in one message. Check the [IMAGE LIBRARY (UPLOAD/SELECT)] feature on your response post.

Also, inspect and as needed, some extremely fine emery cloth to clean up them slip ring on which the brushes make contact, unless not too bad. I've not done so.

Give the alternator axial action an inspect for end-float and how they freely spin. The rear axial bearings fail from the heat load delivered from the exhaust port (manifold - we call them air intake or exhaust ports on fuel inject autos, apparently).

Also, take care with the wire harness, as you'll read in posts, the wire harness for the B+ power, D+ from the dash, and the oil pressure sensor are all in a sheathed part of teh harness that wraps around between the block and distributor, down to the front of the engine behind the harmonic balancer crank pulley, retained by two flat steel malleable spring clip things. If you have chronic oil and / or coolant seepage, the outer sheath becomes brittle, forms cracks, and the and delicious brine of engine fluids can enter that portion, getting at the insulation of the conductors inside the sheath. So, take care when getting at the works.

On Art's website cleanflametrap.com, Art has posted images of getting at the aft side of the alternator from under the vehicle.

Some will remove water pump belts, water pulley and water pump fan, and the water pump fan cowl, secured to the radiator (uneless you have an electric fan).

Barring that, you remove the exhaust manifold heat shield, probably the oil filter (watch them drips!), and remove the three conductors from the aft side of the alternator (B+, D+, and the Ground). Some will mechanically disconnect the alternator tensioner, and the alternator pulley.

Though, from underneath, or nimble gyration with the oil filter out of the way (I use the Fram PH-8A, not the teeny one, yet not a Fram, so I have to), you can merely remove the two machine screws with a standard slotted screwdriver, releasing the voltage regulator / brush carrier, pretty easily.

If you do remove the wire harness works from the rear of the alternator, you will want to use a 1/4" nut driver to reassembly do gear of over-torquing the wire harness termination. Yet the D+ wire secure via a spade terminal. The ring terms for the ground and B+ are secured with nuts. Factory nuts were flange-serrated to provide a locking function. These buts can come loose. Certainly the insulated cable retainer as that post on newer 240 serves also as ground connection.

You may only need to disconnect belts, release from the tensioner, pivot down the alternator body to get at the voltage regulator / brush carrier screws.

I have to do some 02 sensor testing stuff for Dr. Porter. My multimeters all blow, yet I repaired the oldest one yesterday, finally, after a decade. Them Harbor 7$ Freight multimeters are not so good.

Good luck. Plan on some hours work.

Questions?

Hope that helps.

Friday Happy MacDuffed.
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Jonathan Harshman Winters III: The Mightiest, Greatest, & Most Powerful North American Comedian & Comedic Actor in Perpetuity