Alternator OVER-charging??

[RamThis]

Wife went to start the car this morning and nothing, no dome lights, no power. I thought it was just a bad connection so I cleaned the POS terminal and still nothing. So I get my battery load checker out to see what the battery showed. 5 volts, and zero on load. I think the battery just took a crap on me. Go get a new battery and a new terminal (broke the old one). Solder up a new terminal and throw in a new battery, and voila, she starts right up!

So, I hook up the battery tester to watch the voltage and see if it's charging like it should. As I sit in the car with it warming up, the battery light comes on. Hmm. I hop out and look at my meter. Showing almost 17 volts! When the cooling fans come on, it drops to about 14-14.5 volts., and then jumps back up to 16-17 volts when the fans shut off. I shut the car off and get the distinct smell of hot electronics. Sniff around under the hood and it seems to be coming from the Alternator. I'm guessing the Voltage Regulator is fried.

Question of the day: Is the Voltage Regulator part of the alternator? Or is it a seperate entity?? If I go get a new alternator and slap it in will this fix the problem?

Thanks in advance!!

[FyreDaug]

voltage reg is in the alt, and yes a new alt would solve the overcharging problem, just make sure that alt doesnt have a faulty voltage reg

[RamThis]

Cool, I have also called around to some parts stores and they said the same thing, internal regulator. Looks like I'm pullin out my alternator tonight!!

Oh yippee

[FyreDaug]

Its gonna be a major PITA to get out though, you have to drop the driver side axle... its easier if its fuel injected. Make sure you get the carb alt though

[RamThis]

I'll find an easier way to get it out. Got as far as removing the belt and the wife got home, so been sidetracked for the past four hours lol. But Im about to get back to it. If you hear a loud screaming curse you know its me banging my knuckle against something sharp as the wrench slips LOL.

[BITESIZE]

Over charging can be really bad, it can cause electrical fires! Get that sucker out quick.

[RamThis]

Well SOB, that alternator was in there like a trapped rat!! There was no way in hell it was coming out any other way than down, and thank goodness I already really needed to replace the CV shafts anyway, because I ended up having to pull it like you said. I didnt want to get this deep into it just yet, but looks like I have no choice now.

While I have it apart, I'm going to drop the oil pan and replace the pan gasket, replace whatever that tube is between the oil pan and some sort of breather back under the intake, replace the outer seal and inner O-ring on the distributor, and replace the valve cover seal. I think that will pretty much fix all the oil leak problems I have, it leaks like a friggin seive!!! Almost surprised Harley Davidson didnt have a hand in making this engine LOL.

[Soundy]

Actually, there are several other ways to get the alternator out: you can unbolt the left motor mount and jack the engine up from below to give clearance to pull the alt out between the brake booster and the intake manifold, or you can slide it across the crossmember and twist and turn it over the rear engine mount and out the right side (I found I have to unbolt the wiring-harness clamp right under the manifold at that point) - it's a bit tricky to get the right angle, but once you figure it out, it's pretty simply to slip it through there.

I've also found it's not that difficult to disassemble the alternator while it's still in place - loosen the pivot bolt, remove the locking bolt, slip the belt off, and let it flip all the way down, and you can reach up between around the CV shaft to open up and remove the voltage regulator, which is relatively inexpensive and easy to replace in itself, rather than replacing the whole alternator (it's a good idea to test the diode pack and replace the brushes at this point as well - new brushes cost me about $6 for the set, and I think a voltage regular was about $25).

[RamThis]

Thanks for the tips Soundy. If I ever have to mess with the alternator again on this car (unlikely lol) I will try that. I had looked at trying to worm it out behind the engine toward the passenger side but just didnt see enough room. I might have pursued that idea more had the CV axles not had blown boots and need to be pulled anyway. As it was that was the easiest way at the time for me to get the alternator out. Piece by piece Im slowly replacing the whole car LOL!

[Cant Stop]

yo dont forget to replace the oil filter seal too,
it is between the filter housing and the block of the motor. the tube and the box on the block there is the pcv system there is also an o-ring on this too i replaced all of my pcv system stuff cept the box since that tube down there is not supposed to be made of hard plastic it is actually rubber! 17 years had vulcanized it!
the ghost of harley defintiely lives in our hondas lol

\

[RamThis]

Amazingly the oil filter base isnt leaking on this car, so I didnt mess with it. But, the front and rear main seals are leaking, but at this point, I think Im about done with it, it's just gonna have to leak a bit. I got the major ones, the ones that were almost embarrassing because it was dripping all over the exhaust and the car smoked from under the hood pretty bad, looked like it was smoldering at a stop light lol. Now it just has two small leaks that only drip a very little bit arond the main seals, nothing on the exhaust anymore thankfully. I could do the front, but I really, really dont want to mess with yanking the trans to do that rear seal. F-that. If I get a wild hair up my ass one day I might tackle it. For now though, Im just gonna drive it lol.



And, oh lovely day, I had to replace my new alternator today. The new one I put in a few weeks or so ago, blew out after only about 150 miles on it. Lights went real bright, then everything shut off for a second, then it all came back on dim and the battery light came on. I checked the charging circuit voltage when I got back to the house, nothing. Battery was reading 12.2V at idle instead of the normal 14.5 or so at idle, so I knew the alternator blew. Damnit. Well, about an hour last night to pull it out, about an hour putting it all back together today, and all seems to be fine again. I hope this one is a good one, I REALLY dont want to jack with it again.