I recently lost the alternator on my daily driver, and replaced it with a
Lucas unit from the local
foreign parts house. The new one died within 100 miles, and so was replaced
(I wined a lot so it was a freebee). The story continues, as the second
alternator,
and then a third all bit the dust.
Not wanting to be on the alternator a week plan, I pulled out my trusty amp
meter,
and searched the WEB for others with this problem. What I found was that
there are
3 different Lucas Alternators (27, 33, and 44 amps) that are listed at the
parts store
as interchangeable! With head lights, radio, wipers, ... there was a 37 amp
load on
the poor alternator causing it to burn out! What really bad was that the
field winding was
failing open circuit, which means the idiot light never comes on to warn you
that things
are not OK.
>From the Triumph archives I found that someone had installed a Bosch unit
into their
TR-3 with no electrical or mechanical alterations. The unit is the stock
alternator
for a ford fiesta, and low and behold it is a direct replacement with a 55
amp rating!
My tip to the list, when you lose your Lucas alternator, go directly to a
Bosch unit,
which by the was only about $10 more money, and well worth it.
Now what would I have ever done without the resources on the list!
cheers
Jay Baker
|