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| Joined: | 03-12-2005 |
| Location: | Kingman, Arizona USA |
| Posts: | 532 |
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Charging for 10 amps to begin with, and dropping down to 2 amps after a couple of hours, is entirely typical of a partially discharged battery, so a dead or inoperative alternator sounds most plausible.
Over the past 30 or 40 years, I've seen dozens of alternators and voltage regulators, both new and rebuilt, that were defective out of the box. My first thought would be that your case was another such. I'm not sufficiently familiar with the differences between the Delco and Lucas alternators to have a valid opinion as to whether an inappropriate wiring harness could cause damage. While modern electronics gadgets are remarkably reliable, there are still ways to damage or destroy them almost instantly, and few of these are apparent to human senses. The true cause -- wiring harness, installation error, defective part in alternator, component 'infant mortality', incompetent rebuild, or something else entirely -- may never be known.
Alas, it's been my observation that Delta's folks may occasionally forget that not all of their customers are as familiar with JHs as they are. This is hardly unique to Delta, rather it occurs to almost anyone who's been deeply involved in any single field for multiple decades. Since Delta has harness alteration instructions, they're obviously aware of the situation, and I'd have expected a copy to be included with each affected (Lucas) part. But mistakes do happen. Even when the business model includes plans, processes, and procedures to reduce such mistakes to the lowest practical level, there will still be oversights -- just a lot fewer of them.
India seems to have inherited or acquired the designs and/or tooling for a lot of British legacy products. This might be considered a reward, the Brits' last revenge, or possibly both. In any event, if (a) the original directions on how to make a part are complete and accurate, (b) they follow these directions, and (c) they use the correct materials, then the new parts should be at least as good as the originals. Given the quality of some of the original parts, that may not be saying much. However, the components, materials, and manufacturing processes that are commonplace nowadays are so much better than what was available in the 1970s, that one can reasonably expect a vastly improved part quality, and it's my understanding that this is precisely what's occurring.
One last note: use a straight edge (ruler) to check the alignment between alternator and water pump pulleys when you install the new alternator. Sometimes it's necessary to use flat washers as shims to get everything properly lined up. The lifespan of the water pump and alternator tend to be longer if the fan belt does not apply any fore-and-aft forces to the pulleys.