Smoking Alternator?

[TradedV-10foraCummins]

After parking my truck today, I noticed a funny burning smell coming from under the hood. Smelled kinda like burning rubber. So when I pop the hood, there is smoke coming out of the alternator. Not tons of smoke, but then again any smoke is too much. Also, the alternator was quite hot to the touch. I did check the 140 amp fuse and it is still ok. Has anybody else experienced this?



I have noticed lately that the truck sometimes would take a while to come back up from 12v after a cold start, but I assumed that it was the stock batteries getting weak. I went ahead and pulled the alternator to have it checked tomorrow. Anybody else gone through this? Anybody know who has the best price on an alternator?

 

[Peter Campbell]

Thats what makes the alternator work-- THE SMOKE. If you let the smoke out of a device it stops working properly. You may need an alternator with the factory installed smoke still inside. Seriously sounds like something is grounded. You may be lucky and it is only a rectifier bridge. But I do not think anyone actually fixes them except the rebuild shop. I wonder why. They are pretty simple. Just a magnetic field fed by small brushes and slip rings getting a signal from the voltage regulator ( PCM ). This is rotated and there are three sets of windings making three phase alternating current. Then a rectifier bridge turns it to DC and feeds back to PCM to control voltage. - Soo open or shorted diode or a grouded winding. If you have the dollars use this as an opportunity to get the uderhood welding rig/alternator AHHRRG, AHHHRRG, AHHHRRG ( apologies to tool man tim taylor)

 

[K_Arts]

Yep had the same problem... and don't worry, DC doesn't cover it under warranty!!! LMAO.



I literally had to have my truck towed into the dealer due to my alternator filling up my sisters drivewa with puffs of white smoke. The next day a local 5 star crud dealer looked it over, and said... "NO problems here!!" Nevermind the fact that when you actually look into the alternator some of copper wires were melted away. Guess that's normal according to my dealer.



I've been looking for a good aftermarket alternator, but can't seem to find one to my liking. I'm very interested in finding a reliable alternator.



Kev

 

[CumminsAholic]

If or once you guys find an aftermarket one let us know. My truck seems to be taking longer to come up after a cold start too. . not really long, but longer than normal... and like the batteries ( 1 yr old) are weak... I hope that the alternator isn't the cause, but I guess it could be. I guess I'll have to hope that the smoke stays in it. Hopefully it's just from not driving it too often.

Corey

 

[TradedV-10foraCummins]

Thanks for the replies guys. It turned out to be a bad stator in the alternator. It cost $64 to get it fixed. I found a shop that was able to fix it in an hour.



For those of you that have had problems with the "check gauges" light on the dash and are thinking it is probably the batteries getting old, you might want to check your alternator. Now that I have it fixed, I realize that mine must have been going out for a while. I can't believe how fast it gets to 14 volts after a cold start now, and I don't see any fluctuation in the voltage gauge when turning on the ac, lights, etc.

 

[The patriot]

Originally posted by K_Arts





I've been looking for a good aftermarket alternator, but can't seem to find one to my liking. I'm very interested in finding a reliable alternator.



Kev

Someone put up a post about a month or two back about refitting a BIG TRUCK alternator to the CTD.

It didnt look like too much of a problem.

I'll see if a search will pull it up.

Eric

 

[The patriot]

http://216.235.147.117/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34554&highlight=alternator