Mechman 240A: pulley resistance and brush life

[Big Ry 10+ year member]

I purchased a 240A Mechman from SSA for my 03 Accord V6 back in May 2014. A couple weeks ago it stopped charging the battery. I had it tested at Advance, and it failed the output voltage test. So i sent it back to Mechman for warranty repair.

I got the repaired unit today. The invoice says that the alternator is functioning properly, but the brushes were at their limit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't brushes expected to last at least 100k miles (if not far more)? I've had this alternator 1 year and 4 months... and i put maybe 20k on it tops (probably less).

Also, when i opened the box i rotated the pulley by hand, and it sticks at a certain point in every rotation. It takes a little effort for me to spin it beyond the point at which it sticks, and then it rotates freely until reaching that same point again. It's not so bad that i need to crank on it, but i do need to grip it pretty tight with my fingers to manually force it through this part of the rotation. And there's not a chance on hell i could give it a good hard spin and have it rotate itself through that region of resistance... just trying to give you an idea of how much resistance it has lol

Is important to note that the pulley did not previously do this when i sent it in for repair. I just took the new unit to Advance, and it tested good. But I'm really concerned about this pulley issue. Are the bearings going bad? And I'm also really concerned about how quickly the brushes wore out. I plan to contact Mechman again, but i wanted to get some feedback on these issues first. I am not reinstalling it until I'm confident that it will function properly.

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[Big Ry 10+ year member]

BTW, I'm running 2 Fi Qs off an MD2D and Diamond S600 mids + Seas textile tweets on an MB Quart Onyx 4-ch (forget model #). I have a Die-hard platinum under the hood that tested good two weeks ago. 1/0awg Big 3. Belt is reduced size for smaller pulley (Goodyear gator something or other lol), no squealing or signs of wear on belt; however, mechman is claiming there's "belt matter" build-up on the drive side. There's SOMETHING on the drive side, but it definitely isn't pieces of my pristine belt.

By no means should this alternator be under excessive load, and it also shows no external indication that it is.

 

[Big Ry 10+ year member]

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[els1989]

Fuuuuuuk... I hope I don't have these issues with my 370 elite

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[Big Ry 10+ year member]

Fuuuuuuk... I hope I don't have these issues with my 370 elite

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I wouldn't conclude that they make a bad product based on this one instance (even though it's my only mechman alt ever owned). But i AM less than enthused by their customer service.

I have to credit them with turnaround time though, as i shipped it out last Saturday and its already back in my possession.

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[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

I'm tuned in, I was about to purchase a 270a from Mechman for my 04 maxima.

 

[Big Ry 10+ year member]

Can anybody help me out here?

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[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

the pulley and internals should rotate freely, i dont think any hesitation is a good thing especially with just free movement in your hand, but im also not an alternator expert.

sounds like a bad alternator or its pulley, hard to say. ive had a friend have trouble with mechman properly diagnosing their alternator before, he spent 3 months and hundreds of dollars in shipping and hours of his time to send his alternator there and back to only hear that the alternator was "fine." it wouldn't excite unless he rev'd the engine up to ~1200 rpms, apparently they couldn't reproduce it on their bench so they blew it off as nothing. he sent it in a 3rd time and they finally found the problem and fixed it without apologizing, must of just figured customers don't care if they get jacked around

 

[Big Ry 10+ year member]

Wow. That's reassuring //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

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[knil]

I am not an alternator guru either, but I wonder if the new brushes they installed under service repair may be a little tight on that one side. It may wear even over time and rotate freely. You may want to contact the dealer and explain the issue to them and get there feedback. Good luck, I just installed a 170 amp HO alternator from alterstart on my 2008 Honda Civic and the pully rotate freely, you have every reason to be concerned, these HO alternators are not cheap.

 

[Big Ry 10+ year member]

Well i guess I'll post a follow-up...

I had originally emailed the guy Chris who'd been handling my return when i discovered the issues with the warrantied unit. That was last Sunday. Three days later, after not hearing back, i called Chris and left a voicemail. Over 24 hours later, i still had no response. So i emailed their general customer service. I got a call a couple hours later from a different guy (forget his name), and he generally sounded irritated from the second i picked up. I'm pretty sure i heard him refer to my email as an "idiot message" in the first couple sentences he spoke. The general tone of the call was that he was irritated in having to deal with me, and he didn't want to help. He basically just said i can pay (again) to mail it back to them, and maybe they'll find a problem. Doesn't sound too reassuring. When i told him i shouldn't be having to pay to ship a unit that wasn't fixed properly, he said it must be damaged in shipping and to take it up with the carrier (which somehow he didn't even know who they use as a carrier). I was trying to discuss the mechanics of alternators in hopes that i was worrying for nothing, but he didn't seem to know much more than the little bit i know. I asked him about the Honda ELD, and he referred to it as a "mystery" or something of that nature. Basically, he knows OF the ELD, but he doesn't know how it affects their alternators or vice versa.

The conversation ended with me being extremely frustrated but giving in and deciding to use the unit as-is. It's been installed for almost a week, and i haven't had any issues yet. But it definitely doesn't sit well with me at all. The brushes should not have burned out that quickly. He told me it could be because i don't have the alternator grounded directly to the battery. Correct me if I'm wrong, but i always heard multiple grounds can cause ground loop issues and it was suggested to simply upgrade the existing grounds to larger gauge wire (which is why I've had the 1/0awg block-to-chassis ground on there for over 7 years instead of block-to-battery). I've had zero symptoms of a poor ground, and my excessive amperage alternator before this mechman lasted at least 5 years (maybe even 6 or 7... Forgot when i bought it). I thought the EA alt died quick, but not compared to this mechman!

My warranty is up in may, which has me concerned. Watch this thing die again in 9 months. I'll be so pissed! Mechmans customer service is terrible. And so far their warranty service isn't looking good either. Hopefully this is just a mechanical fluke, but like i said i don't have a good feeling about it.

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[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

the owner floats around on SMD forums and im pretty sure he has a direct email, so that's worth a shot. problem is, when i was going to get a HO alt i emailed him directly asking if their cs or repair process was fixed in case i had issues, and i never heard back - so i didnt buy from them.

it won't hurt to add an engine block or alternator to battery ground, in fact it may help. shouldn't be any problem with running a ground from the battery to the engine, chassis, frame, or alternator for that matter.

i'd be concerned about the stiffness you felt in the alternator as well, if there's a local alternator shop that knows what they're doing and you really want to figure out what the problem is go talk to them.

 

[Big Ry 10+ year member]

That would make it like the 7th time replacing this alternator lol. Let's see...

OEM > 2004 Accord HO alt (didn't fit my 2003, shredded belt)

2004 HO alt > OEM

OEM > EA alt

EA alt > Mechman alt

Mechman alt > aftermarket 105A

Aftermarket 105A > Mechman

... Yup, swapping in/out the aftermarket 105A to get this Mechman looked at would be the 7th and 8th swaps I've done on this car. I can do this now in like 10 minutes lol

But seriously, i don't have high hopes of finding a credible place here in Baltimore. Service of all kinds pretty much ***** in this area. I guess SSA couldn't do this, right? They're local, and they're the vendor i bought the Mechman from too.

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