94 Taurus Overvoltaged and blew my high beams

Tonight while driving I accelerated and without notice my idiot light for the battery went on and all the lighting went super bright. I released the pedal but before the rpm could settle down both high beams blew out. Also the airbag light stated blinking a few times then quit doing it. I noticed if I went with keeping the rpm's down I got it home without more problems. The 3.8L has 145,000 on it so I can only think that the alternator/regulator took a dump. Is there a external regulator on this engine?

94 Taurus GL Wagon 3.8L Also is there anything else I should check that may cause this to happen, so one doesn't have a repeat?

Thanks Paul

Reply to
Paul Brown
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Paul Brown opined in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Internal

THats very rare.... COULD conceivable be another problem associated but your alt is gone....

If it hasnt been replaced before, the brushes are about worn out too... so might as well replace it all.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

Reply to
<rusto11

The unit has an external regulator. I pulled it apart today. Brushes worn but still plenty of life left in them. The commentator has some grooving in it. .010 - .020 by my guess. While I could just maybe get away with replacing the regulator, my fear would be something else wrong with the unit, thus replacing just the regulator will only result in a bigger bill. With winter coming I don't need it coming back to haunt me. Considering the mileage, I'm going to go just replace the whole unit.

Thanks all

Paul

Reply to
Paul Brown

If it were my car and I had an external regulator I'd head over to my local U-pull-it junkyard and get a regulator for like $10

Reply to
Childfree Scott

I hear you there. I just got me a alternator with lifetime replacement warranty. If this one went almost 10 years, It should be the last this car sees. It least it was easier to replace then those motor mounts. grrrrrrrr

Cheers Paul

Reply to
Paul Brown

If you bought the "new" one at Pep Boys or Autozone, or another similiar such place then your car will definately outlast the "new" alternator.

The best replacement alternator I ever bought was from a junkyard. It already had 90,000 miles on it and was one year older than my car. It was still working when I got rid of the car at 160,000 miles. The NAPA alternator that the car had was probably the second best. The Pep Boys/Autozone/Western Auto types last anywhere from 30 seconds to a month.

Reply to
Childfree Scott

Interesting views. My starter just went out on my 93. It was changed just before i bought the car. maybe 10K miles on it. It just failed. Pulled it off, it was a Napa rebuild. The solenoid's end was loose. I pulled one off my donor (160K), and away we went. It looks like the solenoids NAPA's rebuilders were using were not up to snuff.

I have kind of heard of mixed views on the groups about rebuilt alternators. It would be an interesting survey to find out whose held up and whose did not.

BOB

Reply to
BOB URZ

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