Cleaning alternator

[Ghoste]

I had a leaking thermostat housing and I didn't catch it until it had a chance to spray coolant all over the place underhood and there is quite a bit green all over the alternator.  Would coolant blowing in there harm it all?  Can it be cleaned out?  Just hose it or spray electrical contact cleaner into it?

[Pete in NH]

There's nothing like antifreeze for making a real mess. I think I would take the alternator off the car and give it a very gentle spray with warm water out of a hand held spray bottle, wiping off as much water and antifreeze as  I could. If it's a Chrysler type you can pull the brushes and holders out the back by removing the one screw holding it on. I would make sure the brushes, holders and slip rings where clean. You can use water to clean them. I would use compressed air to blow out any water from the cleaning process and then set the alternator in the sun for a few hours to bake out any remaining moisture.

[Ghoste]

Okay thanks Pete.  Looks like I know what I'm doing now this afternoon.

[flyinlow]

Well I glad to know I'm not the only one spraying antifreeze all over their engine.   

That gorilla taped hose got us home from the Nats.   

New 31" aluminum radiator/hoses/dual electric fans installed now in the '70. Stays cool. 

Craig

[Ghoste]

That's good to know.  I had a thermostat gasket fail but all seems good now.

[Nacho-RT74]

honestly, dissasembling an alt is one of the easier things to do... I would do it.

[Ghoste]

I'm going to tackle it today sometime, I'll let you know how it goes.

[Nacho-RT74]

If dissasemble it, will need to be sure remove brushes before reassembly. Mount brushes after clean and assembly

[flyinlow]

Alternators without internal regulators don't seam to be very delicate. A little antifreeze probably won't bother it. The distributor cap would probably object to the antifreeze first.

Take it outside on a sunny day, disconnect the battery and rinse the alternator off. Let dry. A fan would speed things.


Then test drive. Always test drive your Charger after any maintenance procedure....Alternator rinsing, oil level check. stroker kit installation, cleaning the windows,  etc.