I removed the cowling to find this.
It was a lesson learned for me to pull cowling more often. I sensed something was wrong due to last flight on run up the aux charge was a negative. It had been approx 15 hours since I had cowl off and no indication of a issue as I was next to the alternator changing the oil filter. The fact that the alternator had come apart was not as alarming as the fact it was resting on the oil filter and on its way to wear a hole into the the oil filter. I have not looked at what caused it to come apart but I suspect either loose internal bolts or possible thread strip.
Thought I would share as something to look for
It was a lesson learned for me to pull cowling more often. I sensed something was wrong due to last flight on run up the aux charge was a negative. It had been approx 15 hours since I had cowl off and no indication of a issue as I was next to the alternator changing the oil filter. The fact that the alternator had come apart was not as alarming as the fact it was resting on the oil filter and on its way to wear a hole into the the oil filter. I have not looked at what caused it to come apart but I suspect either loose internal bolts or possible thread strip.
Thought I would share as something to look for
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