Zogle
43 posts
Joined: 06/12/2004 22:21:54
Location: Wigan United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Alternator
Ive had exactly the same problem recently. Try this as a test. Sit the car on the drive, start it up, and rev it hard. If you hear a squeal, its your alternator. It just needs tightening up. The biggest drain is the heated rear window. I havent got round to tightening mine up yet, but ive refrained from using my rear window heater, my normal heater, and my radio just until ive tightened it, because the battery doesnt get used as much then. Its started first time every time since.
Posted: Dec 13, 2004 09:01 PM
Aimee
4 posts
Joined: 08/12/2004 17:45:15
Location: Buxton United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Upgrade of alternator and battery
Hello, I was wondering if it was possible and wise to upgrade the alternator and battery on my classic mini. It is a 1995 mini special and it is a 1.3spi. I wasnt sure if this upgrade may upset my ECU or cause other problems. I am wanting to upgrade as both the alternators I have tried never really give it enough power to start and it has always been a very lazy starter. It usually eats batteries also and I have tried everything else to solve it. I have already stripped down the starter motor and solenoid and they both seem to be running fine. I do not think there are any electrical faults, but it is a mini so it is always a possibility! Thanks for any help you can give me Aimee
Posted: Jan 10, 2005 05:46 PM
stuart1
12 posts
Joined: 20/09/2004 12:04:51
Location: Cala vinyes calvia Spain
upgrade of alternator and battery
hi aimee check the earthcables from the engine to the body and the battery to the body take them off and give them a good clean and make sure they are the same size as the positive cable replace if any strands are broken the alternator does not start the engine only recharge the battery so check that the output cable which goes to the starter solinoid is in good conditon fitting a larger battery wont cure the problem only delay it coming back so check all the cables and connections hope this helps stuart
Posted: Jan 17, 2005 12:16 PM
Peter
Joined: 27/01/2005 13:07:22
Location: Colchester United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Bigger battery - bigger alternator
As Stuart suggests, the battery starts the engine, the alternator charges it back up again. I read somewhere that it takes 20 minutes to put back into a battery what starting the engine from cold takes out. I have tried alternators upto, and including, a 90A one from a RangeRover, and batteries from the Rover 200 turbodiesel. These two components are the largest I have found so far that will fit in the ordinary position/battery box. That said, neither have much to do with getting the car to start. A fuel injected Mini should start first turn of the key, so could get away with the smallest battery you can find. The problems in the Mini design are many, but in brief: The earth lead from the battery to the body in the boot - it is a poor quality lead, bolted into the boot floor, which then goes rusty. The -ve connection then has to pass through the bodyshell, and via another earth lead to the engine block, which the starter motor and alternator are bolted to. Any rust or corrosion on any of these connections and the 12v you had back at the battery will be 11 or 10 or 9v by the time you get to the starter motor. The positive lead from the battery to the front of the car - provided it is bolted to the battery tightly, with clean battery terminals, is no problem, but then it attaches to the starter solenoid behind the front grille, which, again, is open to the elements and can rust or corrode. From here a PATHETIC little wire goes up to the alternator terminals and just pushes on. When I replaced by alternator with the 90A one, I replaced this wire with two wires, each one made up from new heavy duty cable suitable for carrying 100A. That way, even if one was corroded or poor, the other would be ok. With this, I had 12.8v on the battery and 12.61v on the starter motor terminal. If it is any consolation, the early Ford Focus and Mk.3 Mondeo also had thse problems, as the negative lead was bolted down to the bodywork on the inner wing, and the paint was not removed first - the end result was that the MW radio could not be listened to because of all the electrical noise throughout the wiring loom! Just one thing - I know the phrase has been coined Classic Mini, as opposed to New Mini, but I was led to believe that something classic has to be 25 years old, something vintage 50 years old, and something veteran 75 years old. Can we not just stick to Mini and BMW M-series?
Posted: Jan 27, 2005 01:50 PM
Alternator '98-on
Does anyone know if the parts are available to fit the alternator from a 98-on engine to a pre-98 engine are available, and what the numbers/prices are? Im looking to put a front radiator on an earlier car, (for the usual reasons of noise reduction, power saving, better cooling, more space in the engine bay for getting to the front of the engine etc.) and would like to swing the alternator up out of the way as Rover have done. I have also seen it on a few earlier cars fitted with A/C, so it must be relatively straightforward to do - I guess the only tricky part will be to find a fan belt of the right length to drive the alternator, but as I already have a MiniSpares toothed-belt drive system anyway, I imagine Gates will have one in stock. Aside from that, I will need to get rid of the distributor and fit a quad-coil pack - is there a system available that will drive the coil pack without fuel-injection? I intend to keep the HIF44 Im running for reasons of sanity. many thanks, pb
Posted: Jan 27, 2005 02:41 PM
Ian
23 posts
Joined: 09/10/2004 19:07:16
Location: Newport, United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
HELP !! ALTERNATOR PROBS...
Can anybody help? I have a 1974 Mini (modified of course) and have just changed my alternator from a 16 ACR to a A127 65amp, because of all the electrical goodies etc. The new one has a slightly bigger pulley on it, but with everything turned on and on tickover it should read about 13.5v on the volt meter and it reads just over 12v, when you rev up it kicks it in like theres no tomorrow, (obviously) so, do I change the pulley for the smaller one off the 16 ACR because its maybe not turning fast enough, or is ther something else gone all to cack?! Any help or advice would be very much appreciated, Cheers, Ian
Posted: Feb 06, 2005 10:14 PM
Cheers guys, thanks for taking the time to reply, will try the smaller pulley theory, once again, thanks, Ian
Posted: Feb 18, 2005 06:19 PM
alter
1 posts
Joined: 28/03/2005 20:28:03
Location: Tauro Mogán Spain
alternator
Fitted alternator from a donor car (condition unknown) after killing the first one by connecting the battery the wrong way. Now the no charge warning lamp turns on when I connect the battery and turns off when I open the contact and while the engine is running. Whats wrong?. Thanks in advance for your help.
Posted: Mar 28, 2005 10:34 PM
the light should go out when the engine is running check that the voltage goes up at the battery when you start the engine if so all ok
Posted: Mar 31, 2005 08:28 PM
Kieron
2 posts
Joined: 17/10/2004 15:14:51
Location: WAKEFIELD United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Uprated Alternator
I have a 96 Mini Equinox 1275cc SPI, its not very good at keeping the battery charged and I have bought an uprated Alternator from Mini Spares to try and solve this. Does anybody know if the uprated alternator can simply be swapped for the old one, or if anything else needs changing as well. I ask because I notice on the current alternator there is a wire with what looks like either a resistor or a capcitor connecting a casing bolt to a spererate spade connector when on the uprated one these are not connected. Can the uprated alternator be pluged in a used straight out of the box or do I need to swap this other wire and resistor/capacitor?
Posted: Jun 02, 2005 09:50 AM
Fat Kev
58 posts
Joined: 19/04/2005 18:16:21
Location: Newmilns United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Without sounding too patronising... Have you checked EVERYTHING else that could be causing the battery to go flat? SPis are hell for electrical faults - look at that mess of wires under the hood. My 96 Sprite had a similar problem. Luckily my uncle is an autoelctrician. He checked the alternator for me. Said it was fine, so no point in replacing it. After a few tests he concluded it was the earth strap that was knacked. Instead of replacing the one on the SPi, which is a pain in the arse to get to, he simply cleaned up a bolt (cant remember which one), attached the strap, then screwed it into the innner wing. Since then, only time my battery went flat was due to not using the car :D Im just warning you incase you do fit the new alt, and your battery goes flat. As for fittment... Cant help :( Sorry! Kevin
Posted: Jun 02, 2005 09:48 PM
I have checked pretty much everything else, but not the earth strap, I certainly will check this. Thanks
Posted: Jun 04, 2005 12:29 PM
Lil tip for you skint (or tight) Mini owners out there if you need an uprated alternator - A smaller, lighter and better alternator can be had from a Suzuki Swift, from any local scrapy! More info provided by TurboDave (Coxon) at turbominis.co.uk - http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=2995 Ill be sticking one of these bad boys into my 1380 project Mini :D
Posted: Jun 04, 2005 03:34 PM
Alex
129 posts
Joined: 20/10/2004 23:06:00
Location: York United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Alternator Mountings
As i have alot of bells and whistels on my mini that all draw rediculous amount of power i was thinkin gabout upgrading the 45amp alternator to 70amp found on the later SPI and MPI models, But do the mount in the same way or is the an adaptor that need to be tracked down??
Posted: Jun 07, 2005 07:17 PM
wrinkly
59 posts
Joined: 10/09/2004 08:51:29
Location: POTTERS BAR United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
alternators
should not be any problems at all and nothing needs changing-----since their introduction they have become a big seller-----we have not heard of any fried batteries but lots of happy people with extra lights,music and alarms
Posted: Aug 05, 2005 03:44 PM
john
16 posts
Joined: 03/07/2005 09:03:11
Location: wantage United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Alternator test
Hi The only way to test an alternator is with an output check (in amps) to see what its producing, the ideal solution is an inductive amps clamp which clamps around a cable and displays amperage output and direction of flow, failing this a multi meter conected in series in the charging circuit will show alternator amps produced. the battery, if it is knackered it wont draw any amperage but if you run the car with multi meter conected and turn on lights, radio, heated screen ect the alternator output should increase to power these components if the alternator is goosed the output will usualy drop to nothing. You realy need to test with a substitute battery in place as the battery can cause some strange readings if badly damaged. stick a replacement battery on and run it , the output should be somewhere around 14 v and at least 5 amps, then turn everything on and if the output rises to 20 or30 you know the alternator is good. good luck and dont fear the multi meter.
Posted: Mar 17, 2006 09:12 AM
sam
31 posts
Joined: 11/06/2006 12:05:58
Location: macclesfield United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
i have just fitted a stereo system to my mini( sub, 1200 watt amp, two 6x9s).
after driving one night with my lights and the system on, the battery was flat after leaving it for two hours. i fitted a more powerful battery to try and rectify this but again after driving at night the batery was flat. does anybody know that the problem could in fact be the alternator.
any help would be greatly appreciated
thanks
Posted: Nov 02, 2006 10:56 PM
gary miniman
8 posts
Joined: 27/10/2006 22:47:40
Location: United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
I once had a the same problem with one of my minis years ago, it wasn't the alternator itself, but the live lead on it kept rattling loose, preventing the alternator charging properly. check this before buying a new alternator.
Posted: Nov 02, 2006 11:19 PM
chrish3251
21 posts
Joined: 05/08/2005 18:23:19
Location: Chigwell United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
I had a more general problem and bought a new alternator and it didnt make a difference, turned out the fan belt wasnt tight enough, so the alternator wasnt moving, i would advise checking this too.
Posted: Nov 03, 2006 01:53 PM
thanks very much
Posted: Nov 03, 2006 06:05 PM