'74 Wagoneer regulator problem

Sep 22, 2004 5 Replies
K

This had an old mechanical regulator that wasn't charging the battery sufficiently, so I went and got a new one, which is solid-state. Plugged it in, it was charging, a little heavy according to my ammeter, I thought, but thought i was okay since the battery was probably just low.



Haven't driven it in weeks after being on a battery maintainer the whole time, and when I got in it to go, the stupid thing is charging at max capacity, about



16 volts, up to the 17s when revved, and almost pegging my 60-amp in-dash ammeter while boiling the battery. What the heck?

Now I can't find my old regulator that was letting the battery drain whilst driving. Is it just a bad regulator, or are the new ones not compatible with the old ones? KennyH



Horsepower is cheaper than therapy.


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M

If your battery had a bad cell, the alternator can put out like crazy trying to top it up. That could have cooked the last regulator even.

I would get a battery load test done before spending any money.

How are the connections, especially the ground tags. I have seen regulators go nuts trying to put out enough amps to jump bad or corroded connections.

How is the fender ground where the regulator is bolted to? A rusty fender can interfere with the 'sense' connection on the regulator so it just turns on, no off.

A couple ideas for you...

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

KHanawalt wrote:

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K

It's a pretty new battery. The reason I had it on a battery maintainer is that the Jeep sits unused for weeks on end.

It was a bad regulator. I took it back to Autozone and it even tested bad on their tester, but was about four days out of the 3 month warranty. (Shows you how much I drive this thing.)

Since I shop there so much, they went ahead and gave me a new one under warranty anyway. Works great now! KennyH

Horsepower is cheaper than therapy.

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K

True, but it's not maintaining the in-dash stereo and CD-changer memory on the shelf. Plus it's not out in below-freezing temps. Granted, it hasn't been cold for several months now, but that season is upon us...... KennyH

Horsepower is cheaper than therapy.

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