850 TURBO 1995 Alternator-Battery

pquiddy850 · Post by **pquiddy850** » 09 Jan 2010, 18:59

Hello fellow Volvo enthusiasts,

I'm Patrick, I sell beautiful cars in lovely Iowa City. Not a Volvo retailer:( Trick stuff though; Four Rings/Herbie/The Star/Zoom/and whatever I could call Nissan. I love good cars. That being said, I love Volvo my 850 Turbo Wagon.

I NEED YOUR HELP, I have a Charging System .. Alternator .. Battery.. Maybe Starter or starter cable or a ground associated with the system problem. Ok heres where I'm at.

I have an adequate understanding of what is going on under the hood. My 850 has 201K on the odo. On December 18th, all night, I replaced the flame trap - PCV system-including Turbo Air intake hose, off the airbox, which houses the vital and ever clogged PTC 'nipple.' That being said, car now runs great. It has started rough, or it seemed to turn a little slow for a few months. Prior to that I investigated my PTC Nipple and clogged it was.. I cleaned it , car ran better immediately. It still started rough, not as bad, I assumed it was the clogged system. Months pass (appx 5-6), I finally, Thanks IPD, order up flame trap and change it. Starts easier immediately. The week around dec 18th we got cold cold weather. Anyhow, while at work, exposed outside in very windy area my car sits all day and SURPRISE doesnt start. I jump it and drive to Advance Auto they test it a 590CCA battery at 470CCA, I'm thinking a little low, but I had only driven a mile to ADVANCE. I was informed that the alternator was charging under load at 16V and that it was fine, according to staff who expressed PASSING opinion of their test device.

What I'm about to say may not make some of you happy.

Despite the views of the press, the Auto business is not dead. I am busy. I have a jump pack that I used all week to restart my car to and from work, a three mile drive in town. Tonight I go and test battery and alternator. AdvanceAuto again, honestly very helpful people, battery tests Bad-dead cell, car was dead already and couldnt test starter or alternator. OK so I change the battery, and the darn Alternator shows 18V, could it be bad, starter test indicated something like maybe dirty connections or wiring. I was dissapointed, having put some real blood and time into learning how to work on this car over the past two years and 20000 miles, its always sad to see that the fix isnt the fix. Earlier in the story I did not know recommended voltage off the ALT, I trusted the machine.. The machine that fried the battery? Is the alternator shot, could corroded starter terminals or cables or bad starter wire have some impact on the charging systems performance.

OK it goes deeper yet.

INTRODUCING ABS/TRACS light. Shortly after PCV, when cold and battery shoddy the ABS/TRACS lights illuminate in error first time ever. I charge battery, drive to work next dayand these lights don't turn on. I've observed batteries wreak havoc on ancillary systems in other cars before, ABS and TRACS work as intended. Again battery dead, lights on, I'm used to this, tired of it, tonights battery change and they are still turning on, the ABS TRACS systems inoperable. I tested ita few times just hoping they would correct themselves I guess, and now here I am. Could the high voltage trip the ABS TRACS too? In these last few days at times the ABS TRACS systems worked right, following a good charge on the battery. I hope its not a $$DOUBLE WHAMMY HERE, ABS/TRACS and CHARGING SYSTEM$$.

I hope that we can develop thread that really thoroughly looks at these systems. Like I said earlier, I'm new here officially, I've used this site many times though. I hope that we can create a springboard to healthy charging systems everywhere. Seriously though, Matthew this site is great. I appreciate the information everyone has committed herein. Thanks again.

Patrick

Klausc · Post by **Klausc** » 09 Jan 2010, 20:03

You need to drive a few hours north to feel cold

Your alternator should only put out 14.6V at idle, never 16+ which will fry everything and cook the battery. On the rear of the alternator is the voltage regulator, not a cheap item, which also contains the brushes. If there is a junk yard, you could try a used voltage regulator.

The ABS light is not related. There are rebuilt ABS modules for sale if you google. Vic Rocha does a very good job:
http://home.earthlink.net/~vicrocha/
but there are also some on the east coast for under $100.

Post by **misha** » 09 Jan 2010, 20:11

Charging voltage at battery terminals when engine is runing should be from 13.5v-14.4v

If it is under 13.5v at full load it's bad & if it's above 14.4 it will cook the battery.With yours 16v...it's very BAD

You can easily fry electric parts with 16v.

Post by **Pauloil** » 09 Jan 2010, 21:00

i'd put a new alt in pronto!!
read on this site about voltage drop testing to see how starter cable is.

Post by **confused_al** » 09 Jan 2010, 21:07

Since yours is 95, you have a smaller chance having ABS controller problem as 96 and later models. You may want to pull your ABS DTC code(s) from A-3 then determine the issue, sometimes it could be simply dirty wheel sensors.
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... hp?t=10758
http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/index.ph ... uble-dtcs/

Regarding to your alt-battery, this one might help:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=25840

Post by **jblackburn** » 10 Jan 2010, 01:20

The ABS problem could just be related to the voltage it's getting. Or the insides of the module have been fried by too much voltage. Either way, get a new alternator in there as soon as possible, and then troubleshoot the other problems.

Someone else a while back had their voltage reg go too, and it did all kinds of weird stuff - the ABS light included. Once they fixed it, everything went back to normal.

I wish they still put voltage and oil pressure gauges on cars like my old Buick had...it would make it easy to spot problems like that.

pquiddy850 · Post by **pquiddy850** » 10 Jan 2010, 15:07

Does anyone have a method by which I could test the voltage regulator, other than by replacing it? Should my alternator have ability to charge so high voltage. And if so is the regulator responsible for only allowing so much electricity into the line to the battery? Or is it possible that with my car producing such high voltage that the regulator loses ability to contain or regulate the voltage. Thanks again.

Post by **jblackburn** » 10 Jan 2010, 15:27

Should my alternator have ability to charge so high voltage

No, the voltage regulator is toast, no doubt about it. That's the only reason for producing a voltage that high. Take a look through this one:
Smoking battery

pquiddy850 · Post by **pquiddy850** » 10 Jan 2010, 16:23

I have alternator from Bosch 9162424 (I believe other acceptable part/version number is 9162683). Having reviewed the above referenced exploded image from Volvo it appears as thought the voltage regulator is located behind the rear cover-as if it should be visible while looking at the alternator from above. All that I see is a red cable covered by a black plastic hood, beneath the covered wire is also white square elec clip/lead..

Could the voltage regulator be located beneath the black cover.

I havent even viewed the smoking battery video, I feel that with a new battery I may be the next smoking battery. Sending this and then checking out the smoking battery.

pquiddy850 · Post by **pquiddy850** » 10 Jan 2010, 16:38

Wow, great. Exloding battery! Having viewed exploding battery, I was thinking about splurging on the i tablet that will be coming out. My 2002 G4 is smoking, hopefully enough that my battery will not have to smoke. I'll have to get by on the older OS's for awhile. Alternators sure are fun.
Can I replace the voltage regulator on this alternator, is it behind the cover? If so does anyone know where I could find a new one for this particular alternator?