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Dead Alternator?
Posted 14th May 2009 at 01:15 by Simo
June 2002... Another Alternator?
Things now seemed to be running smoothly, and I'd done quite a lot of hassle free miles in the car, BUT then it happened. I had managed to damage another alternator... the voltage regulator had gone chips again!
This was the second alternator to fail now... I had suspicions that it could be due to the turbo downpipe being too close to the alternator, and so I'd already lagged the downpipe with heat wrap.
With another alternator on the car and two heat shields I set off for the REVS Magazine Saxo Trackday at 3 Sisters race circuit, near Wigan. The car was behaving well and a few tweeks to the fuel MAP the day before really seemed to be doing the business.
But the test came when on the circuit itself... on my first lap the car started to behave strangely... back in the pits, this was diagnosed as a blown fuse.
With the fuse replaced I went out on the track again... half a lap later the same fuse blew!! The fuse was replaced again, but unfortunately with a larger rating fuse. I drove out of the circuit to go to buy some more fuses. Unfortauntely, whilst setting off from the traffic lights at Haydock island, the engine wiring loom melted! (Damn that high rated fuse!!)
June 2002... Alternator Aggrevation.
I had to strip the original wiring loom from the car and fit my spare loom (from 2nd engine), but before re-fitting this, I needed to find out the cause of the problem.
You guessed it... The melted wires ran directly to the alternator! After a lot of fiddling around re-wiring the additional fuel computers, etc the new loom was in place and the car was back on the road.
With a few more heat protective measures in place, I decided to take the car upto GMC Motorsport in Scotland to set the fuelling up properly... something that should have been done a long time ago really!
In some respects it was a strange move going to GMC, as there has always been some barriers between the supercharger and turbocharger camps, with GMC sitting firmly in the supercharger camp!
But the thing that confirmed GMC as my choice of tuner this time was that they REALLY do know their stuff with Saxos... and as so many Saxo's have been tuned there, the rolling road figures tend to act as a steady benchmark for reliable results. Off to Scotland we go!
Things now seemed to be running smoothly, and I'd done quite a lot of hassle free miles in the car, BUT then it happened. I had managed to damage another alternator... the voltage regulator had gone chips again!
This was the second alternator to fail now... I had suspicions that it could be due to the turbo downpipe being too close to the alternator, and so I'd already lagged the downpipe with heat wrap.
With another alternator on the car and two heat shields I set off for the REVS Magazine Saxo Trackday at 3 Sisters race circuit, near Wigan. The car was behaving well and a few tweeks to the fuel MAP the day before really seemed to be doing the business.
But the test came when on the circuit itself... on my first lap the car started to behave strangely... back in the pits, this was diagnosed as a blown fuse.
With the fuse replaced I went out on the track again... half a lap later the same fuse blew!! The fuse was replaced again, but unfortunately with a larger rating fuse. I drove out of the circuit to go to buy some more fuses. Unfortauntely, whilst setting off from the traffic lights at Haydock island, the engine wiring loom melted! (Damn that high rated fuse!!)
June 2002... Alternator Aggrevation.
I had to strip the original wiring loom from the car and fit my spare loom (from 2nd engine), but before re-fitting this, I needed to find out the cause of the problem.
You guessed it... The melted wires ran directly to the alternator! After a lot of fiddling around re-wiring the additional fuel computers, etc the new loom was in place and the car was back on the road.
With a few more heat protective measures in place, I decided to take the car upto GMC Motorsport in Scotland to set the fuelling up properly... something that should have been done a long time ago really!
In some respects it was a strange move going to GMC, as there has always been some barriers between the supercharger and turbocharger camps, with GMC sitting firmly in the supercharger camp!
But the thing that confirmed GMC as my choice of tuner this time was that they REALLY do know their stuff with Saxos... and as so many Saxo's have been tuned there, the rolling road figures tend to act as a steady benchmark for reliable results. Off to Scotland we go!
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