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Alternator issues!


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Driving home last week I look down and my volt meter is up around 17 and my little red light is on. I have no choice but to drive another 7 miles. I turn everything on. High beams, heater, rear defrost and keep the RPM’s low and the voltage hovers around 15. I go get an a new alternator. They test my old one and say it’s bad, overcharging. Put the new one in and now I’ve got two more lights on the dash on and the thing won’t charge. I’ve got 12 volts at the exciter wire when the key is on. I take the ring terminal off the alt and put my meter on the stud. 17 volts and as I rev the motor it goes up to over 20. I go get ANOTHER alternator and it does the same thing. I even ran a wire for the exciter from the battery and ran a wire directly to the battery eleminating the harness. Still won’t charge. They gave me quite a bit of grief on bringing the first one back. Should I try getting another one? EA81 with a Webber. All stock untouched wiring. Oh and I pull the charging fuse and the lights go out but still won’t charge

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When everything is connected what is the reading at the battery? Could be that the battery is bad now and not taking a charge.

It does sound like a faulty alternator though...someone correct me if i am wrong but the kind subes use have internal voltage regulators that will keep the voltage at around 14 volts with the engine spinning 750 rpm to whatever rpm you care to rev?

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Had the alt tested and watched them test it. 15.4v. Ugh! Ran a wire from the alt to the battery, another from the exciter wire to the battery. Two more for the coil and fuel pump. Then I jumped the starter to fire it up. STILL not charging.

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Had the alt tested and watched them test it. 15.4v. Ugh! Ran a wire from the alt to the battery, another from the exciter wire to the battery. Two more for the coil and fuel pump. Then I jumped the starter to fire it up. STILL not charging.

 

Almost sounds like the belt is not spinning the alternator. Does this car have a 2-piece front balancer? 

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You said if you pull the fuse the alternator light goes out? I would check wiring at the fuse block. Mine was a combination of things not charging. First I had to fix the short on the fuse block. Next I had to repair fusible link box which means special wiring tools( it's a sob to do, thanks Dave T for guidance) next I had to replace bad alternator and all wiring to do with charging system (30 years in Phoenix az= crispy). Then I read a very common problem which sealed the deal, ground straps from engine to chassis! All in all my car not being grounded caused major problems and helped fry a lot of components and even did damage to the heads= electrolysis. My gauge doesn't work from the factory since I fried it, but my AutoZone special Cheapo gauge matches my dvom outputs 100%. Hope some of this can help

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My wiring is really good and nice still. Still had the ground wires and the first thing I did was clean all the connections. I’m trying to track the wire from the alternator to the fuse under the dash then where it goes after that. I have 12 at it with the fuse out then it drops to 1.7 when the fuse is installed.

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