This subject is to gather a little alternator experience as to when is it time to consider having one rebuilt. I went out to start the coach several days ago and no 13.8V just 12.3V. Revved a bit, cursed a bit, and shut down. I know that some alternators have been doomed by heavy loads and over heating but some of us still have the originals. My Leece Neville is 11 years old and had 50K miles on the clock. I pulled it and brought it into the local shop and it was time for a rebuild. It had seen some salt, road grime, plenty of water spray, and the grease in the bearings was pretty lame at this point. The alternator brushes were more than half gone and the mating slip ring surfaces were looking bad. So for $230 I have the slip ring surfaces turned, new brushes, new bearings, new grease, new seals, new regulator, etc.etc. My issues were more age and contaminant related than the miles. A new Leece Neville with the Duvac (external remote sense wiring back to the regulator) would be $600+ so this is cost effective if you have a good alternator shop locally. This shop gets only Leece Neville replacement parts and that may be worth asking. The new regulator is a Leece Neville sealed unit and does not have any external adjustments which is a plus for eliminating a water ingress point. So my last coach had the same issues at about 10 years also, so that seems like a good time to get this maintenance item on the list. Easier to deal with at a shop or at home than on the road. Might let the rest of the forum folks know when you had an alternator fail in rough miles and years....
If you do this yourself, one tip that will save you an hour of time (or more) and several tantrums, is to place the lower rear alternator mounting ear that has the bushing in it over a piece of metal pipe. The pipe supports the aluminum cast ear on the bench with the mounting bushing and the bolt hole lined up in the center of it. Tap the bushing with a light hammer while the surrounding ear is supported on the pipe and move that GD bushing back in 1/8th inch or so. This will give you clearance from the engine casting mount so it will go back in place without needing "the Hulk" to hold it and try to force it into place using every tool you can think of. I know Gerald is smiling now......
When you think about the cooiing of this unit, the exhaust manifold and turbo are behind and above it in the air flow path and then you have the air inlet pipe right behind it......not a lot of good air cooling these things.
Later Ed
