6-volt westinghouse generator

[Fred Daniell]

Looking for someone who can help me evaluate the Westinghouse generator on my 1920 Gardner Touring car. I don't believe it is working and need help diagnosing how far to strip it down for rebuild. Anyone near to Nashville, TN??

[hidden_hunter]

Have you done any diagnostic on it? Probably worth checking some basic things like the brushes and commuter before sending it off

[Fred Daniell]

I would love to but really don't know where to start. Is there anything on the internet you could guide me to?

[hidden_hunter]

16 hours ago, Fred Daniell said:

I would love to but really don't know where to start. Is there anything on the internet you could guide me to?

 

Is it a starter/generator combination or a straight generator? 

 

First thing I would suggest doing is taking some pictures to post here before you start, so others can help chime in.

 

First check with it off the vehicle would be does the generator turn by hand? I don't know the design of the westinghouse gens if there is a clutch of some sort on the front of the generator (the cadillacs of this vintage can only be turned on one end otherwise it just slips or has a lot of play in it) 

 

I would assume there is an inspection plate of some description, remove it and hopefully you can see the inner workings. What I would check next are the brushes to see if they're touching the commuter (the main copper part) as well as the commuter itself (it should be reasonably shiny copper) if it's dirty it can any number of things from exposed to the elements, high mica, ground, open circuit, brushes not making good contact etc.. See if you can see the condition of the insulation on the windings, that may have also started to break down depending on what coating they used and if its ever been replaced. If all of that looks good you can try tapping it on a battery to see if it spins (just tap it it on the top of the terminal rather than hooking it up in case there is something wrong inside the generator itself)