Mopar1973Man

When I get some more free time I'll do just a "Alternator AC Noise" article.

If the panel has a good aluminum frame you should be able to create some sort of folding legs with basic hardware. Then you'll be able to set it just about anywhere to catch the daylight for charging. Like this afternoon in the heat of the day went out and watch a DVD movie for about hour and had the water heater turned on to give the dog a bath with the outside shower. Last time I check the voltage I was still 13.2 with everything still running. Day before with everything shut down and just the panels out there is was bounce off the regulator cycling up and down at about 14.5 volts. I know it would be nice to have just a wee bit more power but when I go out boondocking I really don't need much typically there is no over the air TV, rare that I might watch DVD movie, but keeping the fridge, powered up is easy. Some use of lights at night is typically recovered in the morning hours. Water pump and furnace would be you biggest eaters. But you don't have fan forced heat nor do you have a full bath so you power requirement should be easy to cover with at 100 watt panel. I'll admit I'm a bit tight at times with mine would be nice to have 100w (7.1 Amps @ 14.0 volts) compared to 45w (3.2 amps @ 14 volts)

Some people think I plain nuts then... The only water ever used in my cooling system. Yep... Just good old Idaho creek water. Flush the block, mix my coolant load it back up. 263k miles and absolutely no mineral or scale build up. As I've been documenting this since first coolant change till now. Radiator and cooling system still spotless. As for the photo in my coolant flush article the radiators was removed for cleaning. I spray the front and back with degreaser and power washer both faces. As you'll see the battery cable laying on the valve cover and the radiator is missing. So while I was doing that I flush the block out from top down. Being there is no way to run it and flush it. As for the whole scale mineral scare. I personally don't believe mineral scare really any more after 255k miles of absolutely nothing but creek water. I've seen factory loaded distilled water and HOAT coolant look complete scaled up on the inside the radiator. Again that is cause by the coolant become corrosive and oxide of metals turning into scale blooms. Kind of like the previous owner of my 96 Dodge distilled water and coolant... Shouldn't eat the thermostat housing. Again its not because of the distilled water but the coolant become corrosive and dissolves the metals into solution which now creates the scale blooms. This is where your minerals come from. I suggest @leathermaneod to do what makes you happy feel the best...

Updated video... Other videos are deleted now as well so this is the only video in my library for AC noise testing now!

That video is skewed being it was done from the batteries not the alternator. You DVM has to be of good quality and have a setting for 2V or less. If the smallest scale is 200v it will not work. Make sure all loads are off and the batteries are charged up before testing. 0.010 to 0.030 is a good alternator 0.050 marginal (Some folks have reported weird things at this level) 0.100 Fail. The alternator is producing too much and TQ converter locking issues typically occur. This is the best one to explain the process and what is going on. Now you understand why I said to unplug the alternator and go for a drive if the alternator noise is an issues it should be gone now and the noise issue should be gone as soon as you unplug the field lead like in the video.

Fords are more prone to the caviation problem than the Cummins ISB. Again remember the OEM coolant was standard old green coolant. Anything today from a good name brand is better than the coolant technology from 15 years ago.

No. The heater core has no flow control. It's always pump through the heater core.

Here is an example... Now the outside temperature. Now the temperature inside the RV. No the clock on the thermostat is wrong it has been changed forward yet... (D'Oh!) So now if the solar panel where on the roof. There would be ZERO solar charging. So the RV would have to be parked out in the direct sun like my main house is and then suffer through 80*F temps inside the RV but you'd have solar power on the roof. This is the huge reason I will not mount the panels on the roof of the RV. Because like right now as the main house get hot for the day I can retreat to the RV and take a after noon nap if I wish or just watch DVD movie out there... Nice and cool and I've got power!

Place the hose in the radiator full force, start the engine and allow the water to pump through the system. This why I suggest surge the throttle now and then forcing water back into the heater core and the back of the block will stir the crud up. It will pump out of the thermostat housing.

Thermostat housing.

I'm not saying to fill the truck with it I'm say to rinse and drain it out then load up with distilled water. Any cooling system shop is going to use a garden hose and lots of water. Then drain it out and fill with mixed coolant and distilled water.

Won't be enough...I drain the existing coolant first. Then I pull the upper hose and thermostat out stick the garden hose to the radiator and leave idling for 2-3 minutes pumping through the block till nothing but clear water comes out. I normally kick the throttle up a couple of times to force more water through in surge to remove all sediment i the bottom of the block. Usually takes the 2-3 minutes of flowing water and engine idling to clear the entire system completely. The whole fill with distilled water and run thing does not remove all the debris or sediment from the rear and bottom of the block and typically those people end up with water pump problems. Just draining out and filling up leaves all the junk in the back of the block. Where constant flowing water and surging the throttle now and then will remove it.

Basically all name brands should be safe for use in our trucks. Like the whole silicate issue was a big stink on Honda Goldwing's on how it would destroy water pumps and how you had to use a low or zero silicate coolant (Honda Coolant). I never did... Never had a water pump problem. So like I said green coolant came with our trucks and anything today design wise is improvement over 15 year old technology which is still improving to this day. So I would have to say pick something of a name brand and go for it. If your changing colors I highly suggest you flush the either system out with lots and lots of water until it runs clear. If your using the same color / technology light flush with but good before loading up again.

(A-105)/20 doesn't even come close. Starts at 4.5 PSI and at max boost its 7 PSI.

I think there is too much being caught up in the technology and extended life change cycles. Pure in simple all coolant have a life cycle once the the coolant become corrosive in nature all them will do damage to a cooling system period. Don't matter if its HOAT, IAT, orange, yellow, or any color. If seen badly damaged radiators that have ran HOAT I've seen the same thing with yellow or green coolants too. So it comes down to cost of operation. Which material is cheaper and going to provide the needed protection for a period of time without damage. Being green coolant is what came in the engine that would be the cheapest typically. Yellow or orange typically are a bit more spendy (more so on the HOAT). Still in all you have to change and flush the system every so often because all coolant will break down and turn corrosive with time. The life span varies greatly with the vehicle, weather, driver and driving conditions.

As for universals like Prestone, Zerex, or NAPA coolants that yellow in color do a very good job as well for protection as well.

Trip got canceled and alternator repair done so the truck didn't go any where yesterday really. I'll plug it in this morning and see what your math shows. I did get a chance to see the difference in readings early to late models. 14.9 PSIa (99 Dodge) compared to 28.3 PSIa (02 Dodge).

I thought about bolt on aluminum fins. PTO are just steel plates. If I can reach and hold 200*F I would consider making a set of heat sinks for the PTO covers. So far most of my daily driving empty I'm hard pressed to get 130*F maybe 140*F. First 10-20 miles is stays below 100*F. So far thew only time I've seen good hot temps is climbing slow up forestry roads towing. Most of the dirt I travel are steeper than most common highway grades. Highway wise it warm noting too bad. Might surge for 6-7% grade but back side always cools right back down again. I'm waiting to see winter time now. Summer is no problem so far. I know I've got a trip up north to do soon which will be be a empty truck again. But I'll report as I have been.

(Hua) Flat ground towing on paved highway or street is pretty easy going. Low power required. Now leave the city, pavement, and flat ground... Now go up a steep road, dirt, switch backs, potholes, washboard, etc. I see a increase of load %, HP is higher, TQ is torque high, fuel flow is up, etc. Your foot is in and out of the throttle so you slow down and the lay more power to pick it back up. Way different that even paved grades where you can maintain even pace even at slow speeds. Lot of surge throttling, slow down for the corner, speed up again for the straight, slow down for the washboard, speed up for the smooth road. etc. So like in my run all way from home to the dirt road its 23 miles of pavement. Trans temp never rose off 100*F. Turn off and start up the dirt road it only took 2 miles and it crested at it high temp and stayed. Morning hours so the air was still cool. Now loaded and coming out the very same way. Even going down hill it only took 2 miles and it crested again at it high point. Like I said it's not smooth even throttle its up and down, slow down, speed up, etc. The only time that change is when I got to the grade and it was pure exhaust brake all the way to the bottom. Highway now that just cruise control and ride home. Now with you comment I can see it holding true like driving through town at 25 MPH. still climbing a slight grade but controlled throttle, smooth roads, etc.

But when you are towing trailers and heavy weight up and down grades torque value still is increased, exhaust temperatures are still increased, roughness of the road increases rolling resistance, etc. So there is other factors that could add to the heat.

There are some people that claim the only way to see if it will hold up is towing at 80 MPH on the interstate. I typically set the cruise for the RV at 55 or 60 MPH because of the speed limitation on the tires. This last trip I ran the utility trailer hard and fast at 65 MPH pushing the limits of the tires. Still in all with all the towing some 120 miles or more never had any problems yet. As for the firewood run I figured it would be the toughest being the slow speeds and lack of cooling wind under the truck.

Only took me 5 minutes to yank it out. But took over 3 hours to get to town get the alternator and return home with the new one... I want to mention something about test the number I typically suggest are after the batteries are fully charged and everything is warmed up with all accessories turned OFF. Why? Because like what I playing with accessories and test it can change the AC voltage number greatly depending on how big of load you have turn on at the time. So say for example low or weak batteries, headlights on and blower motor on will produce a higher number. So like when I detected the AC noise issue I pulled over pulled the field lead and drove home. So when I test at home it was invalid high number because I've already discharged the batteries driving home with the A/C on yet. So when I hooked it up and test I was getting extremely high number because the load of the alternator charging the batteries. Now when NAPA test it the number is even higher because the ripple test is done under full load which is worse case possible. So like I had them test the new one and it tested out at 1.1 AC volts for ripple test. So when I got home and hooked it all up I was getting at the start .6xx AC volts. So I tiddy up and hauled out and charged everything up and came back after 10 miles and tested again .025 to .029 at idle no accessories. Also the reason why the at rest value... Because there is way too many things for loads that people might use on their trucks. Like turning on the headlights I've got another 200w worth of bulbs burning compared to a stock truck so if we all use the same thing which will produce a more even number and less false positives.

First off there is no freeway here. Again like I said before the I90 is 5 hours away to the north and I84 is 2.5 hours to the south. I've got no real reason to get on a interstate. Typically I might use it for 60 miles from Ontario to Boise that all. Highway wise is all 2 lane roads and 45-65 MPH speeds period. Beyond that steep climbs into the forest haul firewood and my trailer is my normal hard working environment like the on road I use to get into the forest is actually posted for 20 MPH speed limit for 8 miles steepest part is about 12% grade but it not very long. If some is will to pay for fuel I jump on the interstate and drive any where you want... Until someone comes forward to pay for the fuel you have to take what I can give. As for mileage I'm closing in on 2k miles already.

Just a screw driver... LarryB's diodes are expensive I can keep rolling alternators over on warranty for less. I'm thinking of getting of ahold of National Alternators and getting a high output diode pack and go from there.

Unknown why but it failed the NAPA test stand. The new one pasted. So I can say that bad alternator diodes can do some really weird things like bucking and jerking with fly by wire cruise control.