Any tips for taking the Dynamo off?
My blue car has no shroud on the radiator ( which doesn't seem to affect the cooling (new radiator!) and is not too difficult.
The green car has a shroud (and a Special Equipment dynamo - still a C45PV3).
The adjuster bolt and the rear "hinge " bolt are easy to remove , but the front hinge bolt....it is almost impossible to get at the head of the bolt because of the shroud and has the fear/potential of losing the spacer/bush...and as for changing/removing the fan belt there is no space to lever it off (even when the dynamo is loosened off & pushed inwards the block).
The manuals are very coy about how to do this...and to check the brushes with the dynamo in situ is I think "tricky verging on impossible" at the most charitable.
Any words of wisdom?
This may be necessary if it is the dynamo that is faulty, but initial tests suggest the regulator may the problem...
Dynamo removal
Re: Dynamo removal
Dear David,
I have been the past week sorting a non charging issue. The root of the problem was a newish loom which was not quite the right one for the car then a friend needed a failing RF95 replaced with an RB106 and separate fuses. While doing these I was thinking of your question.
That front bolt is indeed tricky. Some makes don't have two separate small bolts but rather have a long bolt with a distance tube between the two lugs, though whether that would make much difference on these Rovers, I'm not sure.
If you can get the front bolt off, sometimes replacing a particularly.short bolt with a longer one can help in that once the nut is actually started, it can be wound up fairly easily. I have found 3/8" drive sockets with an extension bar very useful for these jobs.
I remember replacing the dynamo on my 47 12 saloon sone years ago this way and I don't think it's a task I would want to do at the side of the road.
One afternoon we had set out with the 20 on a local club run and before reaching the starting point, I saw there was no charge. Having swapped cars, investigation later revealed that the tag carrying one of the dynamo brush wires had broken and this was the fault. With both brushes replaced, the problem was solved but I would not have effected as speedy a repair had I not taken the dynamo off the car to begin with.
Now you say that you suspect the regulator. It is relatively easy to check the dynamo on the car. Disconnect the D and F wires..Connect two cables joined together to the two dynamo terminals, connect to a voltmeter with the wiring round the same way as the polarity of the vehicle , so one to the dynamo body with the same earth pole as the car and the other to the two terminals, and start the engine. If you have it warm before doing this it will make life easier.
Run the engine at just above idling and you should have a reading of 12/13 volts and by increasing the speed a little more you should reach 15/16 volts.if you do this, but don't do this for more than a few seconds and don't keep going past 15/16 .It can be easier with a moving coil meter rather than a digital one, and if it shows this sort of reading, your dynamo is probably ok.
If the control box is original, it is probably around the time of potential failure. I have, in recent times, replaced a 1939 one, 1946 one and two 1950 ones. Failure in the internals seems to be the common feature. It is not particularly difficult to hide an RB340 in the space above the parcel shelf area, under the four screw cover, and keep the original regulator in situ for the fuses. Replacement RF95s can be over £200. I had one new which was DOA and was replaced but I wondered about how good they are for the money when an RB106 is £40 and a 340 even less.
Hope this may be of some help.
I have been the past week sorting a non charging issue. The root of the problem was a newish loom which was not quite the right one for the car then a friend needed a failing RF95 replaced with an RB106 and separate fuses. While doing these I was thinking of your question.
That front bolt is indeed tricky. Some makes don't have two separate small bolts but rather have a long bolt with a distance tube between the two lugs, though whether that would make much difference on these Rovers, I'm not sure.
If you can get the front bolt off, sometimes replacing a particularly.short bolt with a longer one can help in that once the nut is actually started, it can be wound up fairly easily. I have found 3/8" drive sockets with an extension bar very useful for these jobs.
I remember replacing the dynamo on my 47 12 saloon sone years ago this way and I don't think it's a task I would want to do at the side of the road.
One afternoon we had set out with the 20 on a local club run and before reaching the starting point, I saw there was no charge. Having swapped cars, investigation later revealed that the tag carrying one of the dynamo brush wires had broken and this was the fault. With both brushes replaced, the problem was solved but I would not have effected as speedy a repair had I not taken the dynamo off the car to begin with.
Now you say that you suspect the regulator. It is relatively easy to check the dynamo on the car. Disconnect the D and F wires..Connect two cables joined together to the two dynamo terminals, connect to a voltmeter with the wiring round the same way as the polarity of the vehicle , so one to the dynamo body with the same earth pole as the car and the other to the two terminals, and start the engine. If you have it warm before doing this it will make life easier.
Run the engine at just above idling and you should have a reading of 12/13 volts and by increasing the speed a little more you should reach 15/16 volts.if you do this, but don't do this for more than a few seconds and don't keep going past 15/16 .It can be easier with a moving coil meter rather than a digital one, and if it shows this sort of reading, your dynamo is probably ok.
If the control box is original, it is probably around the time of potential failure. I have, in recent times, replaced a 1939 one, 1946 one and two 1950 ones. Failure in the internals seems to be the common feature. It is not particularly difficult to hide an RB340 in the space above the parcel shelf area, under the four screw cover, and keep the original regulator in situ for the fuses. Replacement RF95s can be over £200. I had one new which was DOA and was replaced but I wondered about how good they are for the money when an RB106 is £40 and a 340 even less.
Hope this may be of some help.