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1985 Grey "crusty" TD STI


tulaweb

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Lots of work ahead - but I think it'll really be worth it.

Have you made a list of other items to harvest and install on your car? The 15" alloys look like they'd be one of the first things on my list if it were me. Depending on how well the new car rode compared to yours - suspension would be on the list as well.

Rabin

If I put those wheels on the blue car, aren't I going to mess with the gear ratio and the speedometer, or are the tires the same diameter?

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typically, the 15" wheels have lower profile tires on them (as compared to the 14s) to preserve the overall tire diameter...so the wheel turns the same number of revolutions per mile, so the speedo is accurate. you can check the old tires against the new tires on one of the comparison sites to find out how close it is...these sites are also handy when one is deciding on wheel/tire upgrades...

to make sure that your wheel/tire choice doesn't make your speedo (more) inaccurate, you need to start with the original tire size for your car...your car probably came with 185/70r14 tires...

andré

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Like Andre sugests you can verify the rotations per mile for the 14" tires and then match the same rotations per mile in the 15" tire. They should be pretty much bang on - but if not you can work out the percent difference to get an idea of the speed change.

You mentioned previously that your old car matched the GPS, so just go my the size on the rims now as it's already accurate.

Rabin

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For the blue car Michelin says it originally took 175SR14 The door sticker says 185/70R-14s which is what is on it

The Grey one has 195/60R-15 which agrees with the door sticker. Michelin says it originally took190/65HR390.

The door stickers on both cars look the same and are in the same place. They both list the 14 and 15 inch wheels. Could those stickers be something that the dealer would have put on later in the life of both cars listing the modern tire sizes?

Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revs/Mile Difference

185/70-14 5.1in 12.1in 24.2in 76.0in 834 0.0%

195/60-15 4.6in 12.1in 24.2in 76.1in 833 0.1%

So I guess one less rotation per mile isn't going to be detectable.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been otherwise occupied so I haven't done much with the cars. A couple of weeks ago I came out in the morning and found that I had left a work light plugged into the lighter socket and the battery was dead. I put a charger on it for a while, started it and went off on the errand I was originally headed on. When I got where I was going, about 5 miles away, I was going to leave it running, but I got a phone call and without thinking, I shut it off to hear better. I then foudn that the battery was dead again. Although I did get a bit of a click, I couldn't roll up the windows or get it to turn over at all. There was an auto parts store across the street so I walked over and purchased one of those jump starter things that I guess have something like a lawn mower battery in them. I wasn't sure it would start a diesel even if I took it home and charged it overnight, but I figured it was worth a try. Right off the shelf I was able to start it and get home. I swapped the battery out of the blue car and used that for a couple of days when I came out one morning and found that dead. I started it with my new jumper and drove about 10 miles. When I came out about 20 minutes It wouldn't start without the jumper. When I got home and shut it off, It started easily. I put a charger on it over night and had no more trouble for several days. One morning I came out to a nearly dead battery again. I drove it for about an hour and have now not had any trouble for about 4 days now. So the first time I assumed I had run down the battery with the work light, but that doesn't explain how it got deader after driving 5 miles and why it periodically goes dead again. When it goes dead it doesn't seem to initial take any charge from the alternator and then at some point it kicks back in and starts charging again. It seems like there is some kind of intermittent short. I know Joe recently replaced the alternator before I got it. Since it's happened with two different batteries I don't think it's the battery. I wonder if what I'm experiencing was the cause of his problem as well. There are no apparently poor connections between the battery, alternator, and/or starter. I'm pretty sure whatever it is, is intermittent.

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A voltmeter crude wired into your lighter socket will be a tell tale of when the alternator is charging or not.

I once found that the alternator casing itself needed a good ground on a VW Scirocco, and lots of times it was simply a loose connection on the alternator. Most recently - the single spade one that excites the alternator when voltage is low was an easy fix on my 505 turbo.

Rabin

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When I took possesion of that car in Feb, the alternator was dead. I replaced it with a Rock Auto special that seemed to be alright. If it has failed already, I'd first try replacing the regulator assembly or just swapping over the one from your other car.

After replacing the alternator, a voltmeter on the battery terminals with the engine idling and accessories off showed a charge voltage of around 13.8 volts, which is in the normal range for an idling alternator. If you don't see that, chances are it's kaput.

Does the battery/charge warning light come on with the key on?

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The battery/charge light comes on with the key on and engine off and has never come on with the engine running. Most of the time I believe all is working normally. I wonder if there is some kind of intermittent short, and maybe that's what killed the first alternator. This alternator is clearly working properly most of the time.

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  • 1 month later...

The alternator is definitely not charging properly. The idiot light occasionally fades on and off. Not on solid, but a volt meter stays at 12.something all the time. It drops off a bit with the lights on but never goes up enough to show that it's charging. I find it a little surprising that the alternator would die this soon so I'm leaning toward a connection someplace. A bad ground seems to be the root of most Peugeot problems anyway, so I'll look into that before pronouncing the alternator dead. If I can't get this one working, then of course, the alternator from the blue car is available.

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The single spade connection to the alternator that's usually done via a capacitor should also be checked - on my 505 Turbo gas alternator the wire had broken at the capacitor and the alternator didn't have it's 12V reference signal so it didn't charge.

Mine never caused a light - but still worth checking.

Rabin

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I'm not consistently getting a warning light. It goes on and off occasionally from time to time. It doesn't go on brightly just kind of fades in and out. The warning light will stay off for several days even when it seems to not be charging. I usually see the warning light at night when I have headlights on, but even then it's not constant or at full brightness.

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Could be more than one problem... ;)

If the other car has a known good alternator I'd swap it in while checking connections on removal. If you find an issue with the connections then fix and retry - it should be above 12V for sure at idle, and up to ~14.5V when revs are up.

For my car - I had two alternators rebuilt and I just swapped off them in. Sadly my lights now flicker at idle - common issue I've seen in various previous Peugeots - but the voltage reads OK and it charges fine. I assumed it was because I removed the capacitor from the back - but not positive.

Rabin

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The alternator on the other car was known good before the engine "stopped". I have no reason to believe it's not still working. Of course the fresh water I drove into that killed the engine or the salt water from hurricane Sandy could have hurt it. I know that the first one was deep enough to get sucked in the air intake. The hurricane flood came just to the bottom of the doors. I don't think either was deep enough to get to the alternator.

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This alternator is not an OEM. Joe got it from Rock Auto and put it in earlier this year, before I bought it. The one in my blue car is OEM. I don't remember if it was ever replaced but I'm sure I didn't do it any time in the last 15 years or so. If I ever did replace it that long ago, it would have been done by a Peugeot dealer, and presumably would have been an OEM part. I vaguely remember having some kind of charging problem 15 or 20 years ago but I don't remember if the alternator was changed at that time. I think I recall something in the instrument cluster being the problem back then.

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i have bought parts from rockauto that were DOA or that died within a short time...so i wouldn't be surprised if an alternator from them only lasted a few months.

many auto parts stores (autozone, pep boys, etc.) can test alternators, they typically do it for free. the test rig is usually near the parts counter in the store, so you have to pull the alternator and bring it in...

andré

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OK I took the alternator out of the Blue car and cleaned it up a little. I think I'll try to get it tested before I pull the suspect one from the grey car, so I know I'm putting in a good one. As I said it's either the original or an OEM one put in by a Peugeot dealer 15ish years ago.

It says Bosch 0 120 489 358

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I discovered the original alternator was out of commission. The alternator R&R turned out to be a bit of hassle. I received a Paris-Rhone but the car had a Bosch unit. The mounting bracket is slightly different between the two, so I had to make a few rough modifications to mine so the new alternator would fit.

Joe,

So was this a modification to the car side, or the alternator side? Just wondering before I go to put a Bosch alternator back in it, if I'm going to run into a problem.

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Something to maybe consider is a generic GM 2-wire alternator off any late 80's series 350 V8 engine so it has the v-belt pulley. It's fairly easy to fit one onto the XN1 / 6 cars, and I believe Koll had one on his N9TE engine as well. 80A - 120A+ no problem, cheap, with great parts availability. I was going to see about doing a 120A+ on the TD wagon due to the stereo going into it... :D

I considered the GM swap on my turbo engine - but the rebuilt stock alternator was about the same cost, and it was rated at 70A so not a big output gain at all to the base 80A GM alternators.

Rabin

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Something to maybe consider is a generic GM 2-wire alternator off any late 80's series 350 V8 engine so it has the v-belt pulley. It's fairly easy to fit one onto the XN1 / 6 cars, and I believe Koll had one on his N9TE engine as well. 80A - 120A+ no problem, cheap, with great parts availability. I was going to see about doing a 120A+ on the TD wagon due to the stereo going into it... :D

Rabin

Unless my Bosch from the blue car tests bad, I'll certainly go with it. Joe got one from Rock Auto that he said was PARIS RHONE. That could have been 50A or 75A. Seems to be 0A now. The Bosch OEM one that I have is 70A. Unless there's a compelling reason not to, I generally try to stay as original as I can. My license plates are even 1980s version.

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Yesterday I took the alternator from the blue car to Advance Auto Parts but they said their test bench was broken. I'll try someplace else tomorrow. I charged the Battery overnight. Today I had to go somewhere about 25 miles away. When I went out, with the charger on, and the engine off, the voltage read 14.something. I started the car and left the charger on for a few minutes. When I disconnected the charger the voltage held around 14.3 volts while I drove the 25 miles so I think the alternator was working. When I went to come home a few hours later it was dark out. I started the car and after a brief voltage drop it went back to the upper 13s until I started driving and turned the lights on, at which time it immediately dropped to about 12.8. It then slowly dropped the rest of the way home, and by the time I got home it was reading 11.6. The warning light flickered intermittently on the way home.

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I had to have my Paris-Rhone checked out by a proper electric starter/alternator/motor rebuild shop here in Wichita as the O'Reily's near my house didn't have the right connectors to test it. Turned out to be a good move on my part! I highly recommend a proper shop vs/ the hacks at most of the Quick Shop parts houses..they could be selling Slurpees just as well as Chevy alternators.

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I had to have my Paris-Rhone checked out by a proper electric starter/alternator/motor rebuild shop here in Wichita as the O'Reily's near my house didn't have the right connectors to test it. Turned out to be a good move on my part! I highly recommend a proper shop vs/ the hacks at most of the Quick Shop parts houses..they could be selling Slurpees just as well as Chevy alternators.

You think they might damage it? I could just put the Bosch in, and see how it works. It was working fine last I knew. I was just looking to confirm that it's OK before I go to the trouble of putting it in. I'm also kind of draging my feet till I hear from Joe about what kind of modification he did to the bracket when he replaced the original Bosch with the Paris-Rhone, so I know what I'll be dealing with when I go to put my Bosch back in it.

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