5th alternator going down.. what gives?

[Hoot]

HHey i am having some serious alternator issues. i know it can not be bad alternators. i went through 4 rebuilt alternators and am now currently burning out a brand new OEM. I also had my Optima red top give up the ghost after the 4th alternator so it is replaced wth a new Optima and yet my alternaotr is not fully charging the battery.

what is taking down my alternators? what could be the faulty part that is causing this?

 

[Disco Mike]

Have you checked and cleaned all your grounds? Have you tested for a short, tested for a draw while running and when turned off? Do you trust the supplier of the rebuilts?
Mike

 

[Hoot]

as for the rebuilts i do trust the guys they were good, expeditous, and professional and didnt give me any hassle they rebuilt the last one from the ground up, new brushes, bearings, diodes, the works. After the fourth rebuilt crapped out. The guy felt bad and ordered me a new OEM at cost and bought my rebuilt core back from me.

i actually do now think it is a bad cable. i was out at my truck (i was supposed to be working but snuck out to the parking lot on the side of the building) and i hooked my tester up to the battery and started checking the cables, giving them a wiggle and watching the tester. when i giggled the 8" cable that runs from the positive terminal to the fuse box, the volts jumped back up to normal. so i guess i have a good place to start.

where can i buy a new cable like that? or do i just need to go to napa and splice my own together? what size cable do i need? any recomendations?

 

[Disco Mike]

I replaced some of my cables by havimg them made at the alternator shop, they can build them up from any guage wire and have the proper connectors.
Good luck,
Mike J.

 

[Greg French]

I went through 5 rebuilds in a month. They were Bosch.
Put in a new magnet murelli, and haven't had a problem in the last 4 years.