Alternator in West Virginia

The connections corrode before the machine does

Damp air works on the exposed side of an alternator: the terminal stud, the plug on the regulator, and the earth strap between engine and body. A resistance in any of those looks exactly like a failing alternator on a meter at the battery, and is a fraction of the price to fix.

Check the charging voltage at the alternator's own output and then at the battery. A meaningful difference between the two is a connection, not a machine.

An alternator breathes whatever the road throws up

The case is ventilated, because the machine has to shed its own heat. On unpaved roads that means it is drawing dust through itself continuously, and the dust ends up on the slip rings and in the bearings.

A whine that rises with engine speed rather than road speed is a bearing. It is worth catching, because a seized alternator bearing does not stop at the alternator — it takes the belt, and everything the belt drives goes with it.

Coal truck road damage.

The climate, in a number

The mountains here average a hundred inches of snow a year, among the highest totals anywhere east of the Mississippi. Every one of those days is a day the cooling fan, the air conditioning clutch and the blower are all drawing at once, and the alternator is what carries them.

What goes on the roads in winter

Rock salt goes out mixed with rock, cinders or sand, liquid calcium chloride comes out in extreme cold, and salt and water are mixed into brine and sprayed as an anti-icer. What is spread on the road reaches the alternator through the same wheel-arch opening that cools it, and a case packed with salted grit runs hotter than one that is clean.

The annual inspection

Every registered vehicle is inspected once a year, covering brakes, steering, suspension, tyres, lights, glass, wipers, the exhaust and structural condition.

On these roads the failures are predictable: brakes on thickness or on uneven wear from a seized caliper, suspension on a leaking damper or a torn boot, and corrosion where the winter salt has gone structural.

What else West Virginia does to a car

Heavy winter salt on those same grades.

The steepest eastern grades, on hollow and ridge roads with no gentle way down.

What we hold, and what it costs

5 options from Bosch, Cardone, Denso, Remy and Valeo, from $239.99 to $309.99. Prices are firm — where we have no price we publish none.

We are a reseller rather than a manufacturer: we source the part, check it over and sell it, and we confirm it against your year, make, model and engine before it ships rather than asserting a fit on the page. We ship anywhere in West Virginia, including Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown and Parkersburg.