VP died last night

[ronman]

19psi while running yesterday, around 10 cranking, plenty of fuel coming out when I loosen the return banjo. Nothing more than a slight trickle out the back/at the injectors while cranking. Tries to start on ether (grid delete, sprayed through the boost bolt) but since there's no fuel it's unsustainable. 

 

First VP went out at ~130K while towing. I replaced it with one from a truck at a friend's shop that he had owned since new but had a cracked 53 block, and I've been running on it ever since. 

Last night, after driving all day, I went to Daytona to bring an engine crane to a racer friend who's running the SCCA Nationals, and shut it off so we could hang out for a bit and catch up. I pretty quickly determined there was no high pressure fuel and we towed it back to my place, 45 minutes away. Now I need a pump. 
 

What do you all like? 

 

Notable points: 
FASS150 was installed with this injector pump. The truck it came off of had a stock pump, but for the past 115K it's been fed plenty of fuel with 8oz of 2-stroke oil added at each fillup. 

There are no codes other than my normal P0122 from my flaky Timbo APPS. 
Cold starts have been 1-2 sec key turn and it jumps to life. Hot starts have, for the last probably 18 months, been difficult. Usually I had to cycle the fuel pump 3-4 times before even thinking about cranking, and even then probably half the time it still needed a small shot of ether to get going. The last couple weeks, after starting, it would "hiccup" for just a fraction of a second after it started. 

Edited September 22, 2015 by ronman

[Mopar1973Man]

OK... What is the AC noise voltage from the alternator?

[ronman]

Will you be around in a few hours, Mike? I'm not near it right now...

[ronman]

And if the truck won't start is it even possible to test that?

[Mopar1973Man]

Pull the alternator take to a shop to be tested. Ask for a diode ripple test to be done.
 

 

Will you be around in a few hours, Mike? I'm not near it right now...

 

Tomorrow morning works better for me.

[ronman]

Can the tester they have at Autozone/Advance/O'Reilly check for ripple? Or if spin it up on the machine can I put my DMM (a Fluke 88-V) on the machine ground and the output terminal on the alternator and measure it, or will there not be enough RPMs? 

[Mopar1973Man]

That should work fine. The machine should put load on the alternator too so the diodes will warm up a bit and might fail as the load is put on the alternator.

[TFaoro]

Well that sucks.... sounds like it's been on its last leg for a while. As mike said alternator could be the source of the issue. 

[ronman]

Ok, just got back from Autozone.

It output 14.71 with 2.53v ripple. The machine threw up a big red FAILED... So yeah. I'm gonna find a rebuilder in town and have him stuff 200A guts in it I think.

I'm in the process of ordering an Industrial Injection VP right now.

[TFaoro]

Good place to get the VP!

Sounds like you found the culprit. Hopefully the noise didn't hurt anything else!

[CSM]

This makes me want to build a 0.1VAC light bulb and put it on my dash.

[Mopar1973Man]

Ok, just got back from Autozone.

It output 14.71 with 2.53v ripple. The machine threw up a big red FAILED... So yeah. I'm gonna find a rebuilder in town and have him stuff 200A guts in it I think.

I'm in the process of ordering an Industrial Injection VP right now.

 

Yeah... I say you found it. This one was just as bad at about 3 VAC... As you can see the diodes are well cooked. Increasing the size of the alternator may just increase the failure. As amperage goes up so does the heat on the diodes so make sure the diodes are rated even higher than the 200 amps other than that you just going to cook them quicker. Also remember to increase your gauge of wire from the alternator stock wire is only marginal good enough for the full 140 Amps.

 

Watts (Heat) = Voltage (13.5 to 14.5) x Amperage

 

As more amperage means more heat...

 

[Dieselfuture]

I used to let people hook their side of jumper cables and I would hook it up to my side and before I knew too much about it some one showed me how you tell if juice is flowing by touching leads together and if it sparks then it's good, I've done it my self too. But then I learned here that it's a huge no no, and now my friends think I'm nuts and anal about my stuff.

[dripley]

if it is my stuff and they dont like me being anal about it. Tough for them. 

[ronman]

Not impressed with the local rebuilders... none could tell me about the parts they install to build an overamp unit, just that it's $225 (oddly enough at all three places I called) and only one even has a one-year warranty. 

 

So, I read some more and wound up calling Mechman Alternators in TN, and they're building me a 170A alternator with nice parts inside for just $75 more, and a 2-year warranty. Should have it mid-October, he said they're pretty backed up right now. 

And in the meantime I'm gonna go to Advance Auto and buy a cheap reman and have them test til I find one that doesn't have excessive ripple...

[CTcummins24V]

I just ordered a 180 from nations. Arrives tomorrow, install this weekend. I'll let you all know how it performs.

[banzaitoyota]

I have the 240AMP MECHMAN installed for the last month, so far I am pleased

[Mopar1973Man]

Like myself I've got a reman'ed NAPA 140 Amp alternator and it still testing at 0.025 or so.

[ronman]

That's shocking. My NAPA didn't have one in stock for my truck (they don't have a tester, either) and it would have been two days to get one... I went to two Advance Auto Parts stores and both the alternators they had tested >1V. The only Autozone that had one fortunately tested at 0.4 and I went with it as a stopgap til I get my Mechman.

[ronman]

Alright, so riddle me this:
I got everything buttoned up tonight, primed it (which is soooooo easy with the FASS) and it fired up and ran with less than 5 seconds of cranking.

Drove it home from the shop (15 miles,) shut it down, let it sit for a minute, and restarted it. Hit on about the 4th turn of the starter and ran nice and smooth. Shut it back down and went inside to get a shower.

Fast forward 30 minutes and I'm dressed for work and ready to head out. I get in, turn the key, and... nothing. Nothing from the starter, no dimming of the lights, no fuel pump... battery gauge shows plenty of voltage, but all I get with a key turn is a click from the starter relay. I swapped it with the blower relay just to see but there was no change.

 

Oh and Mike: at idle the alternator I put on from Autozone reads 0.07VAC ripple.
 

Edited September 27, 2015 by ronman