You Get What You Pay For!

Recently, I've had a couple of customers tell me that they can buy older style (1970's era) Delco starters at the local parts stores for $39.00.  One of them had already purchased a marine sealed one for that price with a one year warranty.  How is this possible?  How can parts stores purchase these, in today's prices, for a low enough price to sell them for that amount and still make a decent mark up?

I'll tell you!  They have to cut quality and are rebuilt in third world countries, where they pay probably less then a dollar an hour for the work.  The problem with this is that both quality and workmanship suffer.  Quality suffers by way of using inferior parts, used parts that should not be reused without rewinding or repair and new parts of very low quality with inferior metals and plastics that work fine when new, but after being in the extreme temperature changes and vibrations under the hood, will eventually fail, sooner rather than later.  Many won't make the one year warranty.  Workmanship also suffers in that many of the workers are unskilled and don't really know how to watch for problems, when assembling or stripping or leaving bolts and screws loose, which will also cause problems.  How many of these units have you taken on and off, for warranty after warranty, until you finally get a good one?

How do I know this?  I've worked on many of these units and seen first hand the poor quality!  I stood there and told my customer I couldn't believe how much they are charging for these units because I know how much I have to put into one, to repair it. 

Speaking about this particular starter, on average if the unit comes in dirty and needs a standard rebuild, using quality wear parts like brushes, bushings, drive and solenoid, the parts alone cost about $25.00 and labor would usually average around $42.00.  That's a total of $67.00!  Now If I have to replace the armature and/or field coils, that substantially increases the repair cost.  To order a 'quality' rebuilt or new starter including shipping, cost me around a hundred bucks!  Add my markup of around $40.00 and you see that I can't even begin to compete cost wise with the parts stores.  I can however compete on quality, so if you only care about cost, then you get what you pay for!  If you want a unit to last and be trouble free, you should take it to a qualified and trusted rebuilder and pay the additional cost to repair yours or get a quality unit!

Poor Quality, Part 4 Ferguson Tractor Starter

This Delco starter, which looked like a rebuild from someone, came in because the customer complained that it was dragging really bad.  I tested it on the bench and it for sure was dragging.  It sounded like the bushings were worn out.

After taking it apart I found that the bushings were alright and it failed because the brushes were worn out all the way down to the metal brush holders and one had worn half way through the brush screw.  The reason this starter failed is wrong brushes.  They ended up using a smaller brush out of a later unit that didn't belong in this one.  Either someone couldn't find the right brushes or purposely picked up the wrong ones.  Either way, the starter prematurely failed.

Because this particular starter is a smaller diameter unit and has tight clearances, the longer standard brushes are too long and it takes a short but wide brush with offset screw holes to properly work.  I Installed the correct brushes and trued up the armatures commutator, which was chewed up by the brush holders rubbing against it, and finally got it going again.

So this shows that if the right parts are used and someone watches their own workmanship to make sure everything is correct, you'll have a unit that lasts, instead of fails!

Testing Generators on Vehicle or Tractor, Part 2

To fully understand this post, I suggest reading Part 1 first!

'B' circuit generators, like what is on Ford products, differ from 'A' circuit generators by the way they are controlled.  To test a 'B' circuit generator on the vehicle, remove the field 'F' wire from the generator and set it aside so it won't touch anything, then using a short jumper wire, jump across to the 'ARM' or 'GEN' terminal on the generator or better yet, use a longer wire and jump to the hot side of the battery, which could either be positive or negative depending on which side is grounded.  This will kick the generator into full charge which can either be read by the gauge in the dash or using a meter across the battery.  Be careful, because I've found that these generators are usually have a higher amp output than the 'A' circuit generators and will really cook!

To polarize a 'B' circuit system, After everything is hooked up and before starting the engine, Remove the field wire from the REGULATOR'S  'F' terminal and touch that wire to the 'BAT' terminal on the regulator.  Just hold it on, for only a second and when you remove it there should be a spark.  Warning, do not touch the regulators 'F' field terminal to the 'BAT' battery terminal or you will fry the regulator!  (As always follow the instructions you receive with the new regulator if they differ with what is written here!)