Tuesday September 7, 2021 Guerneville CA.
Darn alternator is bad
I was going to do a couple things on the van then take it for another test drive to go down to Guerneville to fill the van’s propane tank,………. But.
Oh, oh
When I started the engine to let it warm up the voltage gauge was out.
Darn, it’s either a bad gauge or the alternator died on me. I checked the gauge first and it was ok, then I measured the alternator’s output and it was dead.
I was planning to go to my brother Mike’s place in Healdsburg in the late afternoon anyway so I decided to go early and see about getting a new alternator there.
Mike’s place
So I changed into cleaner clothes and left for his place for a visit. We had a nice visit.
On to Smother’s Auto Parts
After that I went over to the parts place and they’d have to order one and it’d be in tomorrow but I didn’t want to come back to Healdsburg tomorrow so I declined and decided to go to the big city of Santa Rosa to see Cindy at Smother’s Auto Parts as I know they’ll have what I need in stock and I can get it wholesale so I headed on down that way.
Sucky freeway
The only problem was the freeway sucked with lots of slow traffic but I was patient and made it.
Success
Cindy found an alternator to fit and I bought a couple other small things and I was on my way.
I was going to stop and visit one other person on the way home but it was after five so I drove on home.
Napa first
I wanted to get the new alternator installed before dark but a nap took over and I got started late on it.
Here’s the new alternator.
And here’s the old one that I had to remove from the van.
Small problem
I needed to put my double pulley on the new one as it only had a single pulley on it but I ran into a problem there as my double pulley was built different and needed a spacer to keep from bending the fan fins on the alternator which I found out the hard way by bending the new fan blades which I’ll have to straighten out.
Dark
I was working on finding the proper size spacer when the dark took over so I had to quit for the day.
There’s always something good
The good thing about the alternator going bad is it’s better to have it go bad here instead of during the up coming trip.
Nice day.
