3G alternator - PSA

Matt beat me to it. I'm almost positive that there's a liftime warranty on your PA Performance alternator. The one time I've need it they were very responsive.

Originally posted by Jeff K:
Were the slip rings on the rotor still in good shape?

They were okay, not great, but okay.

PA Perfomance does have a lifetime warranty, but I needed to get it runni ng last night, so i'll eat the $50.00 for the voltage regulator and brush assembly.

As I said, my reason for this post was not so much directed at PA Performance, but the rapid wear on brushes and VR failure without a good explanation. Just trying to head someone off from loosing an alternator, a battery, and as hot as mine got, a car

Bob Myers

Thanks, Martin. I think maybe I'll check mine out this week.

Originally posted by Joe F:
Thanks, Martin. I think maybe I'll check mine out this week.

No Problem Fred, hope this helps.

Bob Myers

Maybe just a fluke ? I want to see what other people find too, I have about 30K on my G3 from PAPerformance.

Originally posted by martin0660:

Originally posted by Joe F:
[b] Thanks, Martin. I think maybe I'll check mine out this week.

No Problem Fred, hope this helps. Bob Myers [/b]

Geeze, I hate being an old fart! Sorry 'bout that, Bob!

Good Info Bob. We should put this with the 3G alternator upgrade as a note to check on a regular basis to prevent potential problems in the future.

Originally posted by Jeff K:
Very strange indeed, Bob. Blind guess theory: I wonder if the bad VR somehow took out the brushes.

In discussing this with PA, it seems they dont think this possible. They could not make any connection with brush wear and the VR failure.

Were the slip rings on the rotor still in good shape?

As I said before, they looked okay. After discussing the two issues as seperate items based on the above, here is the theory. As most of you know, I parked my car at least three, up to 4 months a year. Well during storage like that, the slip rings tarnish, and eat up brush until they clean back up. Add to that any contaminants, and there you go. Really makes sense to me. I was told the brush's are design as 100K items, then deduct for corrosion, dirt, dust, etc from enviroment.My car sat for extended peiods, and surely not in any controlled climate (back yard for winter, airport parking lots, etc). Anothwer suggestion made for me was to polish the slip rings with 400 grit after winter storage.

Keep in mind, this next stuff is a little specific to my new car, and how I integrated the 3G into my 84 wiring harness (or better did away with the 84 harness ). For the VR failure, I was told to put a 1/2 watt, 500 ohm resistor in the Ignition (I) circuit. They said without it, I would burn up the field transistor over time, and that could have been the source of the voltage regulator failure. I am going to add the resitor today, we will see in about a year .

BTW, PA Performance has been nothing but helpful, as I said going into this, it was intended as a PSA for information only, especially with JY alternators more than anything. Those guys are the best, and my swap is my own doing.

Bob Myers