Well I just wanted to share my sadness. Last night i was driving home from a mates place, pulled into our local servo to grab phone credit (as you do) and when I came back to start her up and be on my merry way, I had no whirring, no spark and definately no battery power at all. My alternator has been playing up all week and have discussed with some what I can do tofix this problem and I have decided to get a Auto electrician to diagnose the problem. It's probably just brushes, finger crossed. If so then I'll need to know the tool in which to pull off the orange plastic cover and where to find brushes as I've looked on KC site and cattledog but can't find them. Anyways no LS til I get this sorted.

Thanks for reading if you've bothered too........

I would just send the alternator in to an Auto Elec and get them to deal with it all. It could be the DC rectifier block also. A couple of the diodes mite have gone short....

They will know where to source pats from, most alternators are copies of bosch or lucas or some other brand....

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

I forgot to mention when she hits 2.5 revs the light goes out

Check through here for threads on fitting other alternators. Its a hundred odd dollars to have an althernator reco'ed and I am advised that there is only a few dollars of parts in it. Also that its a job the lecky's do when its quiet. The hundred odd bucks is the going rate.

Having said that, its never just the brushes. Its alway a combination of things as Brad said.

The mini alternator is only 35 amp/h and that simply not enough for most things today. By the time you fit a good stereo, good lights, a GPS and a few other toys, your pretty much sucking out as much as you put into the battery. Give it a dark night, raining and stop start traffic then the battery is going backwards.

Plenty of bigger amperage alternators that can be made to fit and probably cheaper from the wreckers as well - check the threads on here.

LOL join the club buddy, thats what mine was doin for a while as well and now juz recently the whole thing decided not to work, so now i have that light on all the time, the alternator doesnt charge at all and i think its all an earthing problem

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oil leak?..what oil leak..that puddle under the car is just sweat from all that horsepower

The alternator is earthed through the engine that its mounted to.....the engine is earthed to the body of the car, the car is earthed to the neg terminal on the battery....

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

... i know, sorry i meant one of the wires to or from the alternator is earthing out

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oil leak?..what oil leak..that puddle under the car is just sweat from all that horsepower

Well its either going to be the main charge B+ 12v or the field excitation 12v thats shorting out.... perfect recipe for a fire...

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

tiny it could be that the terminals on the solinoid are carbonized and it will cause the power not to flow i cannot remember the correct termonoligy ..
anyway if you get some emery cloth or sand paper it could fix it although i would get a sparky to test it all out any ways
makka

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hey thanks for that but the question is where is the starter? ill check that out tomorrow, by the way sorry i havent gotten back to u about that stuff, ive juz hand my hands full with all these issues with tiny and work, and as it seems im also out of cash sorry man

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oil leak?..what oil leak..that puddle under the car is just sweat from all that horsepower

Well I put my battery on charge for almost 17 hrs. Put it in and I may well had no battery in the car. I have no idea what's wrong I've checked the earth and positive terminals and connections all reading proper readouts. Other than going to a auto electrician can anyone suggest anything for me??

You sound like you're over diagnosing the issue at this time, first get the car started and running and then look at the charging circuit.

1. Use a known good battery from somewhere (cancel out the battery as a problem area). If no power in the car, be sure you checked the fuses and connections around that point as well as the battery post connections and cable. If no power from here, there will be no stereo, ignition power, accessories etc.

2. if the car does not spin over as it should and there is power inside the car, take voltmeter and test for 12 volts on starter side of solenoid with someone trying to start the motor and at the small wire from your ignition switch at the base of the solenoid. (cancel out the solenoid as an issue)
If no 12 volts then replace solenoid after checking for loose connections in the boot and on the solenoid. If 12 volts exixts as normal on the starter then look at the starter motor(probably a set of brushes @ $25 and an hour of your time, or find another one).



If no 12 volts gets to the coil from the ignition, then that is an area we will need to delve into once you have found it missing.

3. If it spins over but no spark...check points, coil, yad yada

4. if it starts and no charge...alternanator yada yada

Take small steps to expose double faults if they exist.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Good advice!

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

Ok update, bought a bosch battery (bigger then the last and more expensive so should technically be better and/or last longer), put that in, started and worked brilliantly all the way to work with a running voltage of 13.5ish. However had to call roadside assistance to start my car after work as it was dead as a doornail.

I have purchased a 75 Amp altenator and it is being delivered as I type this from a reputable Mini parts store. Now my question now is, how and what is involved with taking out the old lucas one and replacing it with the new one, or is it a straight swap? Is there anything I need to know and or buy to get this all working again?

That batt should not of gone dead flat in that amount of time, provided u didnt have 4 spot lights on plus 2 H4 lights on high beam, and didnt have ur fully sic stereo pumping on the way to work......

My guess is the alternator had a couple of rectifier diodes shorted so it was slowing pulling current from ur batt to ground.

Hopefully the new one is a straight swap, mite have to keep and eye on the alignment of the pulley with the harmonic balancer pulley and water pump pulley.

U mite have to change terminals over to connect the wires onto ur new alternator, or it could all be the same!

Just make a drawing of wat wire went where on ur old one, so u can always reference back to it!

Should be a thick 12v charge wire, and a 12v field excitation wire. The alternator is grounded through the motor.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras