Tech Question: Alternator Voltage Regulator...
 

So I have been through 3 alternators in the last 16 months. The first time the brushes were bad and the car would die on me, but these last 2 times I have had to replace my alternator because it was putting out over 17 volts!! It turned my light bulbs into fuses and blew through the filaments and burned through the shunts. So now, my question is what could be wrong with my car that is causing my voltage regulator to fry? All of my grounds are ok, in fact I have made them larger. Should I fabricate an extra ground onto the housing of the alternator and mount it onto the frame somewhere? I am talking about grounds because I know that a bad ground could damage the voltage regulator. Any help would be great on specific reasons as to why I have had this problem.

BTW, my car is an 88 CRX Si.

Re: Tech Question: Alternator Voltage Regulator...
 

welding on the car without the alternator removed has been known to mess with the diodes in the regulator. Other than that you probably got bad re man units. Get a brand new one.

Re: Tech Question: Alternator Voltage Regulator...
 

The thing is I have not welded onto the vehicle with alternator intact. Hmmm... and idk how likely it is that both the reman alternators blew out in the same way in such a short span. I'm not trying to diss your response, I'm simply stupefied at the odds of that occurring.

Re: Tech Question: Alternator Voltage Regulator...
 

So... my voltage regulation still persists... I took the time to ground my tranny case, thermostat (with 4 gauge wire) and the alternator housing itself. What other sources of electrical havoc could cause this? Could I have a faulty ELD? If so, could I somehow circumvent it? Thanks.

Re: Tech Question: Alternator Voltage Regulator...
 

bump

Re: Tech Question: Alternator Voltage Regulator...
 

Has anyone have a reasonable explanation as to why my 88 CRX Si is eating alternators like they're candy? I have not had this one in there for 2 weeks yet and I'm having surges that cause my car's clock light to dim and I'm smelling a burning coming from the alternator itself. This is really frustrating me, so any reasonable help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Tech Question: Alternator Voltage Regulator...
 

That does not sound like phun.

I have to ask; where are you getting the alternators? There's garbage out there, to be sure. But mostly the rebuilders skimp on brushes and polishing the slip rings, replacing the bearings, etc.

I have a bad VR in my N-D that I want to look at; that's the first fail-high VR I've seen in decades. Usually alternator failures are bad diodes, or bad brushes.

What flavor alternator are you getting -- N-D or Mitsu?

Have you checked the engine-body ground strap? Battery to ground?

What voltage do you see across the battery? In this era of $1.99 DVM's at Harbor Fright; everyone should carry one in the rear compartment....




{And a question you MUST know... Have you found an easier way to get to the %$^&*%$ thing besides jacking, wheel-pulling AND removing the bracket???}

Re: Tech Question: Alternator Voltage Regulator...
 

Rusted-CRX:
The voltage I saw this morning was 12.31 volts with an electrical load. I have made extra grounds all throughout the car to try and keep this issue at bay (VC, thermostat, alternator housing, battery ground is 2 ga. wire to the body of the trunk, etc).

It's a mitsubishi alternator that was remanufactured by worldwide. I get them cheap at work (AAP) plus they have a limited lifetime warranty so that was appealing. The funny (not really) thing is that now my alternator is putting out too few volts instead of too many like it did the past 2 times (17+ volts). So, I'm really f*cking confused as to what the issue even is.

I have heard that bypassing the electronic load detector can help with issues like this, but I am not sure which specific wire to pull from the ecu... sigh.

Anyways, my method for removing it is to unbolt the alternator bolts, unbolt the M/C and fuel return line from the FPR and squeeze it through that small gap... pain in the ass man!!

BTW, I have an MSD coil cap rotor, wires, and NGK race plugs. I've heard that having an extremely powerful ignition system can overwork the alternator and cause similar issues... any thoughts? anyone?