E30 charging problem solved

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Matt Warren - 01 May 2006 23:41 GMT

So I still don't know why the alternator passed its bench test, but I picked
up a second hand voltage regulator from a very nice chap online and swapped
it in and all is well. The brushes on my old one were spent, so I suspcect
that was the issue. I felt a little funny about getting a used one, but for
$12 instead of ~$115 I figured it was worth a shot... not that I could even
get one around here (didn't try the dealer... got too scared). Thanks for
all for your input.

Matt

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Jack - 02 May 2006 04:45 GMT

Thanks for the conclusion Matt.

> So I still don't know why the alternator passed its bench test, but I
> picked
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Matt

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Richard Sexton - 02 May 2006 07:11 GMT

>So I still don't know why the alternator passed its bench test, but I picked
>up a second hand voltage regulator from a very nice chap online and swapped
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>get one around here (didn't try the dealer... got too scared). Thanks for
>all for your input.

Glad it worked - it usually does. Keep the old one and next time you're
near a starter/alternator place buy a set or brushes - they're $2
and all BOSCH regulators use the same one; rebuild your own one and
now you have a spare.

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Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
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Dave Plowman (News) - 02 May 2006 09:57 GMT

> So I still don't know why the alternator passed its bench test,

They didn't do it properly. ;-) Did you actually see the test bench - it's
quite involved and expensive. Most smaller places wouldn't actually have
one.

> but I picked up a second hand voltage regulator from a very nice chap
> online and swapped it in and all is well. The brushes on my old one
> were spent, so I suspcect that was the issue. I felt a little funny
> about getting a used one, but for $12 instead of ~$115 I figured it was
> worth a shot... not that I could even get one around here (didn't try
> the dealer... got too scared). Thanks for all for your input.

Last one I bought was approx 30 gbp so say $55.

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*I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it*

Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
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Matt Warren - 02 May 2006 22:10 GMT

> > So I still don't know why the alternator passed its bench test,
>
> They didn't do it properly. ;-) Did you actually see the test bench - it's
> quite involved and expensive. Most smaller places wouldn't actually have
> one.

It was in one of the national chains... and yes it looked quite expensive.
they looked up the part and entered the number and then used specific
connectors to hook it up... so i don't know why the conclusions were as they
were.

Matt

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