A Couple of Tech Questions

[Tobynine9]

I'm a member on several auto-forums and none of them are as helpfull as y'all have been.

I have a CS130 alternator that I bought on eBay which was supposedly modified to output 140 amps... Situation is, cold start up - the volt meter shows 14-15 system volts. Drive around until she gets heated up and the electric fan kicks on - volts drop to 12-13. If you turn on the headlights, they drop to 11-12, low enough that the flashers for the turn signals light solid rather than flashing. I have it wired up with the NAPA wiring adapter that has the resistor in the clip. The pink resistor wire that feeds into the OEM clip that attaches to the NAPA clip (which clips into the alternator) has been cut shorter than its original length, don't ask why, I wish I knew. So, is my alternator less than I had hoped or is there something wrong with the wiring?

When I installed the CS130, I did bypass the ammeter and I upgraded the grounds and charge wires with 00 copper wire. Other mods are listed in my signature.

Second question, I'm seeing a lot of transmission fluid just beneath the bell-housing after she gets hot. The transmission was rebuilt a year or two ago right before I bought the truck. I haven't been driving the truck as much lately for various reasons I won't go into but I just noticed today that my Y-pipe routed just beneath the bell-housing is all black on the front half from scorched fluid. Is the front seal a goner already?

If I need to get some pictures to help with the diagnosis, I can.

[Tobynine9]

Here are a few pics of the leak. (if i can ever get photobucket to resize them...)

fine... freakin' photobucket...

links

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i310/Tobynine9/Jeep/DSC01162.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i310/Tobynine9/Jeep/DSC01163.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i310/Tobynine9/Jeep/DSC01164.jpg

[yankeedog]

chassis, engine, body and battery must be grounded together for the juice to flow.also alot of those high output modified alternators dont put out much at low rpm.if it is indeed tranny fluid as you suspect your front seal is probably doo doo.remember also that over time seals tend to wear grooves in things like coverters and counter balancers which makes it tough for the seals to do thier job.

[pb]

You could run a a wire from the alternator to the battery to see if your current wiring is the cause of if the alternator is not producing enough amps.

[Walt]

are you talking about volts at idle, or with the engine at speed? like yankeedog said, the cs130 won't put out significantly more current at idle than a stock si alt, modded or not.
measure the voltage at the alt, at the battery and at a hot wire somewhere behind the firewall and see if the three measurements vary significantly.

[Tobynine9]

the voltmeter reads low at speed and at idle when the fan is blowing and the lights are on. there's sometimes a slight fluctuation, sometimes not.

i may swap it for a cs-144 just to see what happens. i was going to do that anyways but i found a steal of a deal on this one.

[-Bluegill-]

On the leak - don't rule out the torque converter, since the tranny was recently rebuilt. Often the TC is overlooked. Are you 100% sure that is ATF and not motor oil? My oil pan leaks worse than that, and requires scraping gunk off the Y-pipe occasionally. (yes, I plan on rebuilding/swapping the motor later on)

I don't know much about cs alternators, but after installing a rebuilt si alt on my Chero that STILL wouldn't charge - I replaced every part of the charge system - except I routed the wires differently. First - I bought a Powermaster si model. I know, I know - it ain't cheap, but uncle Sam helped me pay for it (tax refund). The cool thing about my Powermaster is it's guaranteed to put out 100amps at idle, and 160amps at cruise (it came with dyno specs hand written on it). It also came with a 6ga charge wire that I had to cut in half - way too long. Put a 150amp fuse on the charge wire at the solenoid. Next, I replaced all battery cables with 2ga (Autozone - duralast gold). Then, I used this diagram (from junkyardgenious) and rewired it:



For my "sense" wire, I ran 10ga to the horn relay under the dash. For my "excite" wire, I ran 14ga to the air conditioning lead at the fusebox - thru a nice little "idiot light" which is mounted next to the fresh air vent knob on the right side of my column. The light takes the place of a resistor wire. Then, I installed an Equus voltmeter and hooked it to the same A/C lead as the excite wire. Also ran a 10ga ground wire from the Powermaster case to the battery.

My results? A perfectly steady 14.2 volts, no matter what engine rpm or what loads I switch on - even winching hardly moves the voltmeter. Couldn't be happier!

[Tobynine9]

On the leak - don't rule out the torque converter, since the tranny was recently rebuilt. Often the TC is overlooked. Are you 100% sure that is ATF and not motor oil? My oil pan leaks worse than that, and requires scraping gunk off the Y-pipe occasionally. (yes, I plan on rebuilding/swapping the motor later on)

Yeah, as far as the leak, I'm 100% sure it's trans fluid. It's pink and the trans was a little low. If it's the TC, how will I be able to tell that's source instead of the front seal once I get the whole daggum thing off? (That's what I'm not looking forward to...) At least it will take away my excuse for not installing the 208 yet.

Thanks for the wiring set up on the alternator. I'll fiddle with the wiring on mine before I go through the cost of replacing it. Although, I don't have much faith in it. It's what I get for buying something at a discount from eBay.