427 engine (part 2) - RHS block

[Rich Z]

Well, Connie went with me this evening when I took the C5Z out to run down to the Hardee's in Crawfordville. She commented that it smelled like something burning, and I noticed it to. (Uh oh!) But nothing seemed amiss so I just kept on driving. Out on rt 319 I happened to glance at the volt meter and the needle was registering pretty low. (Uh oh again...) The DIC showed 11.7 volts. Usually I'm seeing around 13 volts, so something seemed amiss. We didn't get to the Hardee's before I decided to turn around and head back home, rather than run the risk of the car dying on us.

By the time we got back home, the DIC was showing 11.4 volts, so I think the alternator has gone kaput and I was just running on the battery. Nothing looked out of place, but there was an odd smell under the hood, kind of smelled like burnt cotton candy, more than anything. The alternator was hot enough to burn your hand if you touched it (ask me how I know..... ).

I didn't really do anything to the car since the last time I took it out beyond fiddling with the tail pipes and just cleaning up under the hood in case I popped the hood at the Hardee's thing. But sure seems like the alternator has gone bye-bye. Just one of those things, I guess.

I've got two alternators around here somewhere, one of which is practically brand new, since I got the chrome plated one on there now not long after I got this second one. I was having electrical problems showing alternator faults a long while back and replaced the alternator back then. So even my original one is probably still good. And I'm guessing this chromed alternator is probably 6 years old. Ah, the chroming was coming off of it anyway. Whoever chromed the darn thing did a piss poor job of it, as they obviously simply chromed the aluminum housing directly rather than triple plating it.

Odd that if the alternator failed that I didn't get any fault codes showing on the DIC, though. I would think that something should have showed up.

Oh well, guess I'll swap out the alternator tomorrow and see what happens. I might want to take a look at the starter as it seems to my that original problem I mentioned was caused by a loose and/or corroded starter wire. So maybe I'll take a look at that first before pulling that alternator.

Oh, a friend of ours said he drove by the Hardee's as he was going to meet us there, and he said that at 6:30 there wasn't a soul there on the parking lot. So maybe there wasn't any sort of cruise-in there this evening anyway...

[85vette]

Sorry, I got my Saturdays mixed up....

Maybe this will be useful....


Tallahassee Area Local Cruise Inn’s & Car Shows

Enclosed in this article please find a listing of all local events happening for Classic Car enthusiasts. If your club is not listed or changes have been made, please feel free to contact me and I will make the appropriate changes.

First Monday of the month:

Monday night Mustangs at Hooters on N. Monroe St. Event starts at 5:30 PM til 8:00 PM, all Mustangs are welcome in any condition or year. Contact David T. Hawkins at www.mestengofx.com

First Saturday of the month:

At the Sonic on Hwy.27 & Capital Circle NW. Starts at 5:00 PM til 8:00 PM, contact Clayton Weaver at 850-545-5029 cweaverracing@mchsi.com

Second Saturday of the month:

At the Hardees in Crawfordville on Hwy. 319, starts at 6:00PM til 8:00PM. Contact Kathy Lambert at klambert@comcast.net. Wakulla Classic Cars

At the What-a-Burger on Thomasville road, starts at 5:00PM til 8:30PM, put on by Fords of Florida Car Club, The Classic Chevy Car Club and Panhandle Ponies Tallahassee Car Club.

Vintage Vettes at the Wing Stop on Thomasville & Bannerman Rd. starts at 6:00 PM. Contact Dean at 980-1222 for more information.

Third Saturday of the month:

Cars & Coffee at the Classic Motor Storage & Repair 4308 Aviation Ave. & Capital Circle, starts at 8:00 til 10:00 AM. Contact Travis at 575-0259

At Famous Dave’s BBQ on Capital Circle, starts at 6:00PM til 8:30PM. Put on by Cruisin Corvette Club

At What-a-Burger on Apalachee Pkwy, starts at 6:00 PM til 8:30PM. Put on by Tommy Sykes.

At downtown Monticello, starts at 5:00 til 9:00PM. Open to all makes & models, door prizes 50-50 drawings. Contact Cindy Lambert at 850-997-1125 The Road Cru

Last Saturday of the month:

At the What-a-Burger on Thomasville Rd. starts at 5:00 til 8:30PM. Put on by the Tallahassee Street rods

Tallahassee Area Car Clubs

Classic Chevy Club meets the 1st Thursday of the month at Sonny’s BBQ on Timberlane Rd. at 7:30 PM

Cruisin Corvettes Club meets the 1st Thursday of the month at Famous Dave’s BBQ Capital Circle NE at 7:00 PM. Contact club President Beverly Blankenship at c5fever@comcast.net

Fords of Florida Car Club meets the 3rd Monday, at Golden Corral on North Monroe at 6:00PM. Club President Richard Widman www.fordsofflorida.com

Panhandle Ponies meets the 2nd Wednesday of the month at Seminole Wind Buffet on North Monroe at 7:30PM Club President Shirley Shields at www.tallahasseemustang.com

Tallahassee Street Rodders meets the 2nd Thursday at Ole Time Country Buffet on North Monroe Street at 6:00PM. www.tallahasseestreetrodders

[85vette]

Also, for all areas of Florida....

floridacarclubs.com/html/cruise-insbydate.html

Copy and paste if the link doesn't work.

[Rich Z]

Well, I put the car up on the lift and looks like everything is OK with the starter cables. Nothing looks amiss underneath. Well almost nothing. I see that the stripped bolts on that turbo housing are still leaking oil slightly. Dammit.

Anyway, I broke out my battery/alternator tester and everything appears to be OK. Voltage on the battery with the engine not running was around 12.5 volts. Alternator was putting out 13.4 volts at the alternator hot wire. The DIC is now showing 13.1 volts.

But I still smell that burnt cotton candy smell, and it's definitely coming from the alternator windings. So I'm going to go ahead and replace it. I'm going to just go with a rebuilt unit from Advance Auto for now, since I can get one for $150 with a lifetime warranty on it. So even if it only lasts a year, I get free replacements. The chrome plating on the one I have now didn't last, so maybe that is just a frivolous bling that I can do without. I've got a couple of old alternators around here, so maybe I'll take one apart and see how tough they are to rebuild myself. That way I can polish the housing if I feel that ambitious.

Ah well, today would have been a real nice day to put some more miles on the car. But I don't want the alternator crapping out on me and then have to worry about getting back home before the battery died. I have to run up to the Advance Auto up on the west side of Tallahassee to pick it up, so not sure when I'll get up that way.

[Rich Z]

Originally Posted by 85vette

Sorry, I got my Saturdays mixed up....

Maybe this will be useful....
Second Saturday of the month:

At the Hardees in Crawfordville on Hwy. 319, starts at 6:00PM til 8:00PM. Contact Kathy Lambert at klambert@comcast.net. Wakulla Classic Cars

Thanks!

[shakedown067]

Best thing I ever did for my vette was find a local guy that rebuilds GM starters and alternators. HD replacement parts and install cost a whopping $135 for my black powdercoated ALT and he was done in less than an hour!

[Rich Z]

Probably can't be too tough to rebuild them. Might need a press for any bearings in the housings, I guess.

Anyway, just got back from Advance Auto with the new alternator and will be putting it on the car this evening sometime.

[Rich Z]

I wish everything I've had to do on my car was as easy as putting in a new alternator......

Anyway, the new alternator is showing 14.7 volts at the hot terminal on the back of the alternator. At the battery I'm now getting 14.1 volts across the terminals with the car running. And the DIC is showing 13.7 volts. So yeah, at the very least my old alternator was getting weak. Hopefully that particular problem is now behind me.

[schpenxel]

Going back to the fuel smell you mentioned a page or two back...

What type of hose was used? I've read in a few places that one type of common / slightly cheaper hose has issues with the smell seeping through. I'll try to find more info on it tomorrow, but it was a pretty common complaint with whatever type of hose was the culprit. Wish I had a better memory!

[Rich Z]

Yeah, I've also read that some of the stainless steel braided rubber hose can have a gasoline odor too. Particularly because of the ethanol additives in gasoline these days. Which is why I put that UV fluorescing additive into my fuel tank to see if that seepage is what I am smelling. But so far I haven't seen any orange glow using the UV light, which is what the dye I am using should produce. Obviously there is something on the hoses reacting to the UV light, and based on what the gasoline itself looks like, it does appear that there is something showing up on the steel braids.

But what puzzles me is why I don't see the INSIDE of that rubber hose showing any fluorescing residue when there is something obviously on the outside, and I'm guess came from the gasoline.

I still haven't checked to see if I got any of the EVAP system hose that should have been on the engine in the bunch of stuff that came back in the trunk of my car when I brought it back home from Aaron Scott's shop.