I had the opportunity to change out a set of brushes in the alternator on my current 240 project this morning. I have always used the Volvo brush set (#1362710) that is available from the dealers for about $4.00 (if you shop around). In my last order to FCP Groton I noticed they had a set of alternator brushes for $3.00 so I thought I would give them a try.

My first observation on this new brush set was that the brushes themselves were somewhat shorter than the OEM. They also did not have solid copper leads that make the OEM easy to thread through the holder. They simply had the braided wire attached to the brushes and it was too short to thread through the holder even if they had had enough rigidy to do so (which they did not). I had to solder a very small diameter wire to each brush to thread the new brushes into place. The OEM brushes come with new springs in place and in fact could not be easier to install. The new brush set did not have springs included and those springs are easy to lose. I managed to do that this morning. Luckily I had a set of OEM brushes on the shelf and was able to use one of the springs from that set.

All in all it just wasn't worth it to save a dollar. I have a decent amount of soldering experience and I found these brushes to be a real hassle. If someone was using these for their first brush replacement exercise they might be inclined to throw in the towel.

I appreciate the good prices and fast service I receive from FCP Groton, but like all suppliers I find that some of the things they have to offer are not worth the "savings".

Randy

Hi Randy -
Might not be a bad idea to call/email Nick at FCP regarding this POS they're selling... maybe they'll start offering the OE piece, instead.

- Brian '93 945T

Yep. I bought and used the same FCP brushes in my '90 240. I also threaded a hair-thin wire through the hole to act as a leader.

Didn't bother me, though, and worked great.
--
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)

>Didn't bother me, though, and worked great.

Dats 'cuz you da man !!! You could install those brushes while walking through 6 feet of snow with your eyes closed. You are the exception to all the soldering rules. You buy flux by the 5 gallon pail and solder by the metric ton. You are the only person I know that attacks any car repair problem with a soldering iron:-) Happy holidays, Don

Randy

Ahh, Randy, around the holidays everything's in flux, and a hot iron won't help.

Best wishes for the holidays!
--
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)