Bought an '87 Accord hatchback recently (2.0l, 2bbl, 5spd)... owner was selling it because the alternator "didn't work". Seemed to me that it worked, but not 100%. In any case, I swapped in the alternator from my identical '87 sedan that had just bit the dust, and all was happy until a couple nights ago: charge light flickering, dashlights dim, except when revving high. Typical indication of bad brushes. Figured I was doing okay trying to get home when suddenly the charge light came on solid and wouldn't go out for anything. JUST made it home, engine sputtering every time I hit the brakes.
So today I pulled apart the original alt. and checked it out: diodes all test fine, field windings seem okay, no opens or shorts anywhere. Brushes weren't too badly worn, so not really sure what was wrong with it.
Got the replacement alt. out of the car (finally - some Japanese SOB needs a serious bitchslapping over the layout of that engine) an opened it up... brushes were REALLY worn, but still making contact - barely. Diodes and windings checked okay as well.
Now the only thing I can't test is the voltage regulator. Or can I? With a stanard multimeter, that is, since I don't have a nice super-duper alternator/starter bench tester sitting on my kitchen table...?
I took a few readings across various terminals of both regulators, DMM set to Diode Check, and got several readings that differed between the two... for example, testing from "terminal A" (named arbitrarily for the sake of argument) to terminals B and C on one regulator showed infinite resistance, but on the other, they showed about 1200Mohms aa 1800Mohms, respectively. Reversing the leads, the first regulator showed 1200 and
1500 (B-to-A and C-to-A), but the other, I got 1500M and infinite, respectively. Obviously I don't know which one is "right" reading, and it's not enough to make an intelligent diagnosis.So... does anyone know of any way I can test the regulator? Or better yet, know how I can hook up the alternator on the bench (ie. what goes to what connections) and test it there, maybe spin it up with my cordless drill?
TIA...