87glsubie Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 so ive had my sube for a lil over 2 years now and its ate about 4 voltage regulators. any thoughts?? im on my 4th alternator right now which is the 90 amp maxima swap. its doing sypmtoms and the random spikes. ive caught it once in a parking lot and got about 15.10 volts at idle. which isnt bad. but aint good either. i did a voltage draw between the battery and regulator ccircuit and is drawing about 2.5 amps with the engine and Key OFF. keep in mind this alternator was bought brand new about 4 months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 In past experience in the automotive world of "new" alternators, a high percentage are bad even when new. The only way to avoid this is to buy OEM from the dealer. There is a reason new from dealer are 200 bucks and new from autocrap are 65. You get what you pay for. Better to go to junkyard and get low milage unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naru Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Check for AC voltage(high beams,heater fan on full,2500 rpm) Your driving lights or big mutha thumping stereo may be damaging alternator diodes. If you really had a 2.5 amp draw,battery would be dead in short order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Good points made by Naru. I was wondering about extra high loads on the system also. Checking to see if there are some bad diodes inside the alternator by measuring for AC voltage across the battery is good also. There should be less than .25 volts of AC with the engine running. Check the voltage between the alternator output stud and the positive battery post with the engine running around 1500 RPM and with the lights and heater running. You should see less than .5 volts there if the connections between the two points are ok. I'm not sure what to make of your "voltage" test you talked about in your first post. If you actually did a current check and saw a 2.5 amp draw something is very wrong. You say you did the check between the battery and the regulator but isn't the regulator inside the alternator? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87glsubie Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 what i meant by regulator was the connecting where the regulator senses battery voltage. if i turn everything on at idle i read about 13 volts. and my battery was very effing dead at .5 volts lmao. pretty hard on a battery. let it trickle charge for a awhile so the battery is better. i will give the ac voltage thing a shot and keep you guys posted. I truely believe in the saying you get what you pay for. its a 125.00 alternator for 85 at schmucks. its got a lifetime warranty so imma pick up the replacment tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I toasted 3 hard-to-find alternators (SVX) before I realized that my battery was bad and was killing the alternators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Hopefully the next alternator will fix things up. It would be a good idea to have the battery checked out also to make sure it is in good shape. If it is more than 3 years old I think I would replace it regardless if it was good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87glsubie Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 idk i probably just overloaded the old ones cuz 60 amps just doesnt cut it. ill really worry if this one goes out too. there lifetime warrantied so ill just wait and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 idk i probably just overloaded the old ones cuz 60 amps just doesnt cut it. ill really worry if this one goes out too. there lifetime warrantied so ill just wait and see. lifetime ones are usually autozone, oreillys, napa, and those are the ones that are no good from get go. Get OEM used and you should be fine. You need get out of the rebuilt aftemarket mentality on alternators, 9 times out of ten something is bad on them. Sure, they test put out 12+ volts at the bench test, but bench test doesnt care about testing voltage regulators and make sure they don't top out at over 16v. Get oem son. I found that out myself and by reading others advice on here too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qman Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 lifetime ones are usually autozone, oreillys, napa, and those are the ones that are no good from get go. Get OEM used and you should be fine.You need get out of the rebuilt aftemarket mentality on alternators, 9 times out of ten something is bad on them. Sure, they test put out 12+ volts at the bench test, but bench test doesnt care about testing voltage regulators and make sure they don't top out at over 16v. Get oem son. I found that out myself and by reading others advice on here too. Funny thought. Didn't the OEM fail first? Diligently keeping the terminals clean on all electrical components and not over-loading the system generally will make it last longer. Bigger stereos, too many lights and such kill more charging systems than leaving the lights on over and over and draining the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 (edited) Yes. Oems will fail around 175k miles or thereafter. Rebuilt autostore ones are no good from the time they are installed in 9 out of 10 times for the older Subarus. Usually, its the voltage regulator that has failed out of the box. This is one instance where "lifetime" warranty is more of a hassle, and soon the stores will deny waranty claim after you go thru so many units. Its the suppliers of rebuilts that are at fault, not the stores themselves. The suppliers test for good output but they are not testing regulators at all. Edited January 28, 2011 by bheinen74 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qman Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Yes. Oems will fail around 175k miles or thereafter. Rebuilt autostore ones are no good from the time they are installed in 9 out of 10 times for the older Subarus. Usually, its the voltage regulator that has failed out of the box. False information. Opinion with nothing to back it up. OEM is not manufactured by the automaker. They have failure rates as well. Usually, you will find that it is a diode that fails. That is why the lights on your dash light up telling you of an impending charging system failure. Again, failure is also related to battery failure. Which is a bigger problem than the alternator or regulator. A bad battery will kill an alternator in less time than a system requiring more than the alternator can handle. This out of the box failure you speak of must be simply bad luck for you. As I have not had a problem with an alternator bought from a big box part retailer in 10 yrs. The only problem I usually see is being given the wrong part or not being in stock. I can correct the wrong part issue by knowing what I want/need prior to going in the store. Now, if you'd like to help him solve his drain problem continue to post in this thread with accurate information. Otherwise... well you know the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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