Voltage Regulator/Alternator Trouble

[R Leo]

I am in power generation h*ll.

About two months ago, Marlene's alternator failed while we were in OKC forcing us to travel home ohne Komfort. I didn't mess with it until after we returned from our big vacation, putting it off until about two weeks ago. I quickly installed a rebuild from a local rebuilder and went on my merry way until two days ago when I got in the car to run an errand and all the lights on the dash stayed on after the engine was started.

Hmmm.

I determined that there wasn't any juice going to the battery so I pulled the voltage regulator and look at what I found!

One of the brushes was misaligned on the commutator and wore sufficiently in 1000 miles of use to create this nib. I guess it then wouldn't make contact and generate current.

I installed a spare VR I had and am back on the road, for the time being. I'm going to pull this one in a week or so to inspect for unusual wear. More details then.