Killed 2 alternators... Voltage regulator?

My '68 Galaxie 500 is having some electrical troubles lately. Last week I noticed my alternator light was on. Disconnected the battery cable while car was running and it died. Deduced from that it was a bad alternator. Swapped it out with the one from my '67 and it's been good for about a week. I just ran out and noticed the alternator light on again when I started the car. Presumably this alternator is dead too.

I'm guessing a bad voltage regulator is probably my problem. I figure if it lets the alternator go at full charge indefinitely it could fry it in a short amount of time. I think I'm gonna run out and get a new voltage regulator and alternator, but before I do I'd like to know if the voltage regulator will cure the problem, or if there is something else that could be causing it (if so, how do I troubleshoot it?). Thanks.

Cory

Reply to
Cory Dunkle
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No, if it went full charge very long, it would fry your battery. If it EXCEEDED full charge a short time, it would fry the alt.

Did you start with a fully charged battery when you swapped out? You are suppsed to.. though I dont, for the life of me, understand why the overcurrent reg cant be trusted on a new alt.

Dont you have a simple meter? You're a car nut, fukrying out loud.

Quit GUESSING!

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

Reply to
Thomas Moats

Well I went out to the car and did a quick disconnect check on the battery cable and it died. Got out my meter and checked the alternator... Looked good so I swapped the voltage regulator from my '67 into it. Presto, works perfectly. Wonder if my old alternator is not dead after all... Still have it so I think I'll try it one of these days. I never checked it with my meter, I just assumed it was the alternator that was the problem. If it _is_ still good I wonder why changing the alternator cured the problem for a week? All my connections are clean, and new battery cables... Went through that a couple months ago. Everything still appeared to be in good condition.

Anyway, I went out and got a new voltage regulator and installed it. Didn't work, same problem as the old regulator, not charging. Went to exchange it thinking it was DOA, but they had no others in stock so I just returned it. If the '67's regulator works then so be it... I'll just get a new one next week. The new one was a Borg Warner part, which looked a bit different than the original Ford piece, and was supposedly for several applications on Ford, Chevy and Mopar. I wonder if it was not the corerct unit for my application or an inferior quality part. Oh well, I don't really care. The car seems to be back to normal to I'm happy, I'll worry about finding a replacement regulator next week.

Reply to
Cory Dunkle

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