How to Inspect a Voltage Regulator & Alternator Brushes

Video Transcript

In this clip we're going to talk about the proper service procedure to remove, inspect, and overhaul your vehicle's alternator. In this step we're going to talk about the proper service procedure for inspecting our voltage regulator and brushes, and our commutator inside the alternator. Now the alternator is going to have several more components inside of it. Some diodes, diodes that make up the rectifier bridge, it also has a bunch of windings inside the armature. The armature spins inside a large electromagnet, which is generated by the fuel from the battery and control by the, your voltage regulator through the brushes. Now most of these components are replaceable and rebuilt companies do replace them when they're bad. However, the availability is slim to none for the consumer, those rebuilt manufacturers by them in large volume and it's very difficult to get them from a parts store. The parts that are available though, are the wearing items which will be your brushes. As you can see here, I have my brushes, they?re actually still connected to the regulator, here and here. You can see the wear that has occurred on the brush compared to the new one. Line that up for you just like so, as you can see the difference. These brushes are worn out and should be replaced. What will happen is as the graphite wears down, the copper wiring will be exposed. Now copper is pretty soft, but it's still harder than the graphite. And it will tear into and damage your commutator, if your commutator is damaged you cannot replace it. So you're going to want to catch this before those brushes wear all the way down. As you can see even on mine, just due to age, that the wiring is beginning to degrade. Inside here is beginning to fray. And that is the proper service procedure for inspecting your alternator.

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