Was "forced" into a nice upgrade this past week. Dropped my daughter off for school and all of a sudden my battery light popped on. Couldn`t get more than about 11.8-12 volts out of it. The alternator had already been replaced once before I bought the truck and after looking around it appears it`s pretty common for these trucks to eat the stock alternators. Apparently Ford thought it`d be a good idea to put a wimpy little 110 amp alternator in it from the factory (it`s the same stinkin unit they use in the Fusions). Decided not to mess around and spent the money on a Leece Neville 230 amp alternator.
The glow plugs are a huge draw on startup and with the stock alternator it would dip to about 11.5 volts on startup and then slowly climb back up and fluctuate from about 13.5-13.8 volts. Every once in a great while when I turned my lights on at night it would dip down to about 12.5 volts and then kinda bounce around (maybe a sign it`s been crapping out for awhile). Got everything wrapped up tonight and tested it out. On startup the voltage dipped to about 11.5 volts like usual, but then it shot right up to 14.2 volts within about 5-10 seconds and held steady there. Took it for a drive and with the headlights, stereo blastin, and heater/defroster on it never dipped below 14.1 volts. Was very happy to see that.
Stock unit in the truck:
Old and new unit:
Due to the much higher output, I had to upgrade some cables. Luckily I had some nice 1/0 awg at the house already. Got some nice tinned copper lugs and adhesive lined shrink tubing and made some nice new cables. God bless the Panduit hydraulic crimper that my brother in law`s late father had. That thing worked awesome:
Upgraded the charge cable from the alternator to the battery as well a new ground cable from where the alternator mounts to the engine over to a spot where the body attaches to the frame. Still need to upgrade the crossover cable (from the passenger side battery positive to the driver`s side battery positive), and upgrade the driver`s side battery ground cable from the frame to the engine block. Also will be getting some protective tubing for all the cables:
Wasn`t cheap, and certainly isn`t a "fun" upgrade, but I`m glad it`s done. It obviously made a noticable difference already and I think it`s going to work out well for the truck in the long run
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