Noisy alternator

[ddevore]

Hey guys, I got a quick question about an alternator. Yesterday I was running fairly hard over at parker strip, I killed the boat and was hanging out for an hour or so just floating. When I restarted the boat the alternator was really noisy like it was charging the hell out of my battery - I swapped to the #2 battery to see if I'd just drained the batt down and it made the same noise, it only quieted down when I changed it to both batteries cut off from the system. Could a bearing be going bad in the alternator, if so do the marine alternators get requilt or just replaced? I ran it this morning and it started out making noise then quited down after a run, but on a restart it's back to making noises.
Thanks for any advice!

[Squirtcha?]

If it is a bearing, it'll make noise whether it's charging one battery, two, six, or none. From my personal experience bearings can make noise intermittently when failing. Sometimes grind like hell, other times barely a sound.
You could have yours rebuilt, or buy a new one. If your engine compartment is closed, you'll have to stick with the marinized type. If not you'll find lots of guys (myself included) that run automotive type one wire alternators.

[BigBlockBaja]

Hey Squirtcha, How ya been? Remember how we got rediculed last year on our altenator mount setup?

[Squirtcha?]

Actually I don't remember that one. I usually try not to take that kinda thing personally though. You know what they say about opinions anyway, right?? ;)

[ddevore]

Thanks for the reply. Do you know if the Marine alternators can be safely rebuilt or is it something I should just replace? I called a local shop and a re-man is $220 - The thing that sucks it the entire boat only has about 35 hours on it...

[BK]

I had mine rebiult here in town a couple of seasons ago for $85 and its marine.

[ddevore]

My buddy that's automotive mechanic said he rebuilds car alternators all the time and he could do a marine one no problem, I just wanted to make sure there was no problem doing this... I don't want to blow up my boat to save a few bucks, the wife would never give that one up.... Thanks for the contact info and advise.

[Squirtcha?]

Thanks for the reply. Do you know if the Marine alternators can be safely rebuilt or is it something I should just replace? I called a local shop and a re-man is $220 - The thing that sucks it the entire boat only has about 35 hours on it...
Sounds like if you go back to that shop, you might wanna wear your titanium underwear.
They're trying to give it to ya bigtime.
They are pretty simple to rebuild if you can find the parts. Nothing really special (no black magic) to a marinized alternator either. The only thing I've noticed to be different is some screening to keep any sparks from blowing around.

[ddevore]

Quick question about the alternator that I just recieved from marine power - I figured for $104 new it was a good deal. It is not comletly sealed, I was under the impression that a marine alternator needed to be sealed so I don't blow up... Should it be sealed up? I'm assuming that since Marine power made the engine and only make marine engines that it would be right, but I'd rather know for sure, and hopefully before driving 4 hours out to the boat and figuring out I got the wrong $hit :-)
Thanks for any advise!!

[Oldsquirt]

It does not need to be "sealed" but internal spark sources need to be "suppressed".
Does the unit have any labelling that indicates it is Coast Guard approved?
The price seems too low for a true "marine" unit.

[ddevore]

It does not say anything about being USCG approved, that's what first sparked my intrest... I don't know why a marine manufacture would sell anything else though. I'll give them a call in the morning to check it out - here is a link to a photo (http://servweb.myvnc.com/alternator/index.htm ) of the thing , I don't know if anyone can tell from the outside of one of these - but it looks different from the one on my pickup!

[Oldsquirt]

Except for the addition of the black housing on the back, it looks a lot like a current GM alternator. Possible that the housing provides the needed "suppression". The blue tag has "SAE J 1171" on it and I think that is one of the ratings indicating marine, BUT don't take MY word on that. :D

[ddevore]

That's what I was thinking (but I don't know jack about these things). I did a quick google search on the SAE J1171 & ISO 8846 and came up with all sorts of marine results so I may be in the clear, I'll give Marine Power a call in the morning to verify... Thanks for the response!