After fiddling with the starter the other day, and determining that it just needed a little lube on the helical shaft, I reinstalled it, hooked up my new battery, and cranked the motor. Sure enough, the starter operates as intended now. Yay! That's $50+ that I won't be spending on a replacement starter.
Unfortunately, I fried my alternator in the process, because I initially put the battery in backwards. The famous
magic smoke began to escape from the alternator until I noticed it and hastily disconnected the battery. After that initial mistake, I found that the alternator was producing smoke even with the battery installed correctly. Nothing makes you feel stupid quite like destroying a $100 part because you couldn't tell positive from negative.
A little looking around confirms that, yes, the Lucas 17ACR alternator is user-serviceable. I have to say, I love the fact that parts I usually consider disposable are serviceable in this car. I'm no electronics wiz - obviously, given that I put the car battery in backwards! - but I can solder reasonably well, so the steps before me appear to be:
- Remove alternator. Disassemble.
- Test "rectifier" component. The rectifier uses diodes to turn the alternating current produced by the alternator into the direct current needed by the car, according to this nice alternator writeup on The Triumph Experience. It's probably shot, as diodes are components that only allow current to flow in one direction, and that's exactly what wasn't happening here. Those little diodes gave their lives defending the alternator guts - we just don't know if they were successful at it. It's a $15-30 part, depending on which of several variations I get and where I get it from.
- Test the voltage regulator. We're hoping for better news here - it's possible that the regulator is ok. But if not, that's another ~$30 part.
- There's also a voltage stabilizer, which is somehow different from a voltage regulator, and also appears to cost ~$15.
- Inspect the bearings and other parts for signs of wear. Autozone replacements are around $80, and reconditioned Lucas examples seem to sell for $90ish on eBay. So if the thing needs more than a few of those $30 pieces replaced, I'll probably just get a new one. But if not...
- If we decide to go ahead with the rebuild, replace the brushes ($peanuts) and perhaps the drive-end bearings while we're in there, if they look bad.
- Put it all back together and reinstall to see if it worked.
In case you found this blog because you, too, fried your Lucas alternator and need help understanding how to test & fix it, here are some resources for you.
Expect to hear a lot more about alternators in the near future. That's all for now!
I had intended to replace the drive-side bearing, but I couldn't press the rotor free of its housing to replace the bearing, so I left well enough alone. I'll be satisfied to replace the rectifier (a.k.a. diode pack), voltage regulator, and brushes. Here's the entire top of the reassembled alternator, with the new voltage regulator on the left, the new brushes on top of the slip ring cover in the center, and the rectifier at right.
Everything went back into the alternator in pretty obvious ways. I didn't even need to consult my photos of the alternator taken during disassembly. (The one exception was making sure I got the wire connections right on the slip ring cover, for which I drew myself a picture.) Everything else fit together like a puzzle. Even the stator leads engage the rectifier diode leads in obvious ways.
