The Van had electrical isues when I bought it. The voltage was all over the place. When driving, it typically was above normal. When idling, it was way below normal and would continue to drop the longer it stayed there. It did not seem like the battery was charging correctly.
Initially I might have thought the battery was bad but the dealer I bought the van from had just replaced it. I had Advance Auto Parts do a free alternator check and they reported that the diode was bad. This kind of makes sense based on my understanding of diodes as a one way check valve for electrical current.
I ended up getting a brand new 130 amp alternator. I couldn't find anything on the old alternator that specified its output. It may have been a 95 amp, but I doubt it with all the accessories in this van. I opted for the high output 130 amp version.
Installing the replacement alternator was relatively straight forward. I did have to remove the air intake but overall it only took about an hour. This was my first time working on the van so I was looking closely at the condition of everything in the engine bay.
Overall I am happy with the almost complete absence of rust in the engine bay. This van must have been someones pride and joy considering it is rust free.
While I was in the engine bay I took the time to lubricate the pulley's and found that the cause of squeaking was the power stearing pump. I will have to address that eventually as the squealing is very annoying.
I also replaced some blown fuses that restored power to the rear stereo and the idirect lighting in the back. Its great having that lighting.
Somewhere along the way this van spent a long time with an owner that really maintained it well. As I said before, the body is in too good of shape to be have been used in the winters. The most recent owner on the other hand just let things go. Blown fusez? Really? How hard is it to replace them. I found 3 blown fuses, and none have blown again since I replaced them. Why not take care of the alternator yourself? I think someone just stopped caring about the van and decided to drive it into the ground. Thankfully gas is so expensive they must have decided that woudl be too expensive so they sold it instead.
Over time I hope to be able to address all the little things that are broken on the van. Thankfully the engine and transmission seem strong so nothing major needs to be done.
The alternator was the only step necessary towards making the van daily driveable. The new one works great. The voltage is perfectly 14 volts while driving. As an added bonus, the rear folding bed now goes up and down unassisted. The extra voltage helped there tremendously.
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