fourth alternator in three years!!!!!

[93luxurysnake]

I have a 93 mark viii and i just had to put my fourth alternator on it today! I mean they work fine and then out of nowhere they just die all together an it seems to be pretty consistent amount of time from 6-10 months. Has anyone else had this issue?,if so what was the cause or does anyone have any ideas on what it is? Also I have a optima red top and all the air ride system in the car i took all of my audio system out thinking it may be frying the alternator from drawing to much power :embarrassed:

 

[driller]

Where have you been buying them?

Remanufactured alternators are a crapshoot and thats about all you will get from most parts store chains.

Find a reputable rebuilder or buy a new Motorcraft (though there are some online sources some people have had good luck with).

An interesting side note... when the alternator went out on out Town Car a few weeks ago, the dealer did not have one in stock. Worse yet they did not have any new available, only reman units. I called around and found a new unit at a local NAPA store.

 

[93luxurysnake]

yea i been gettin them from local parts houses like advance auto zone and o'reilys havent tried napa i really wana get a genuine ford part if i have learned one thing bout these cars is do not use anything but fomoco parts for electronics or hard parts interesting side note the air ride swap i did a while back sat for three months and didnt leak down one bit and pumped rite back up soon as the key was turned on:thumbsup:

 

[chris2523]

these cars will eat a marginal alternator. lots of electronics.

+1 for reputable rebuilder (i rebuild my own. not too hard. 2nd gen alts are easier.) or get a motorcraft unit.

 

[Roadboss]

I have one from PA Performance and a rebuilt one from from Advance and have had them for 8 years and both are still ticking.

 

[tixer]

Back when "Big Wheel Rossi" auto parts was still a thing, I had one of their "lifetime warranty" units on my '86. I was in there every 6 months or so to swap it out. It had gotten so routine that I could tell when it was failing, drive the car there, and swap it in the lot in front of the store.

Once they were bought out by Checker, they said they'd only honor the warranty once, and I paid an extra $20 or so for an upgrade. That unit that is still on it to this day.

The quality of the rebuild makes all the difference in the world.

On a similar note, never ever-ever buy the cheap laptop power supplies on Amazon or Ebay. They're all junk.

 

[Lvnmarks]

Always have them rebuilt, I have had the same luck. Got three bad units in one day before we just had the original one rebuilt.

 

[93luxurysnake]

i cant find anyone that can get the rebuild kit cuz i would rather do that an make it push a lil more juice

 

[97MarkJA]

I went through 3 or 4 in one day from a local place when mine went bad. One actually had a bad bearing right out of the box.
I put one on and it would charge fine for about 5 min then the voltage would slowly drop until it was around 11.9 or so over 20 min time.
After the third one in a row and a new battery I happened to lean over the front of the car and my hand touched the ground cable.. It was quite warm!
At that point I thought maybe I was a dumb a$$, replaced the big three with 1/0ga and 8ga in place of the 12ga fusible links to the distribution box. New pig tail harness on the alt and 1/0 to the alt.
The last alt was bad when I got everything put back together but the reality was the high resistance to ground was probably the cause.
I had returned the bad one and got a ford unit, worked perfect; I had ordered a 220 amp unit while all of this was going on. I keep the ford unit in the trunk as a spare, with the 220 alt on the car I don't get so much a flicker when the ac kicks on or the base hits.
I cut the ground cable open to see what kind of shape it was in, it was green about half way up the cable from the bottom.
Those 2 12ga fusible links are a joke, more like 14ga if you ask me. They are under the distribution box next to the battery.
If you haven't done a big 3 upgrade I highly recommend it.
J

 

[Lvnmarks]

I went through 3 or 4 in one day from a local place when mine went bad. One actually had a bad bearing right out of the box.
I put one on and it would charge fine for about 5 min then the voltage would slowly drop until it was around 11.9 or so over 20 min time.
After the third one in a row and a new battery I happened to lean over the front of the car and my hand touched the ground cable.. It was quite warm!
At that point I thought maybe I was a dumb a$$, replaced the big three with 1/0ga and 8ga in place of the 12ga fusible links to the distribution box. New pig tail harness on the alt and 1/0 to the alt.
The last alt was bad when I got everything put back together but the reality was the high resistance to ground was probably the cause.
I had returned the bad one and got a ford unit, worked perfect; I had ordered a 220 amp unit while all of this was going on. I keep the ford unit in the trunk as a spare, with the 220 alt on the car I don't get so much a flicker when the ac kicks on or the base hits.
I cut the ground cable open to see what kind of shape it was in, it was green about half way up the cable from the bottom.
Those 2 12ga fusible links are a joke, more like 14ga if you ask me. They are under the distribution box next to the battery.
If you haven't done a big 3 upgrade I highly recommend it.
J

It’s on my list for the mark but I did that to my town car though and my lights don’t dim any more with an RPM change.

 

[fastmark]

What is the big 3 Upgrade exactly? thanks for the input, Mark

 

[chris2523]

1. + cable from alt to battery.
2. - cable from engine to chassis ground.
3. - cable from battery to chassis ground.

with at least 4 gauge wire.
makes a difference on these cars. especially as old as they are. the wiring they used is just undersized...

 

[fastmark]

1. + cable from alt to battery.
2. - cable from engine to chassis ground.
3. - cable from battery to chassis ground.

with at least 4 gauge wire.
makes a difference on these cars. especially as old as they are. the wiring they used is just undersized...

Thanks Chris. I dont see the Thank you button anymore? :eek-large: where did it go? Mark