Voltage regulator or alternator problem?

[br0dy519]

It’s possible to do the regulator in place. It’s documented on this forum. I don’t have the heart nor hands to work in such a confined space. Similar to shortcuts like not removing the ps pump for the t stat, you’re going to spend more time fiddling than actually getting work done and it’s tight in there. Those are the situations where I get frustrated.

Out comes the rad fan, serp belt, and ps pump, total of about a half hour. Then you can keep your sanity. Again this is just my anecdotal account, but shortcuts have always had me clocking more time and frustration than had I just done it the right way.

Parasitic draw, grab a clamp dc ammeter and place it in series on the pos battery wire. move the trunk actuator so the car thinks the trunk is closed. Lock the car and make sure it flashes at you. Come back in 15min and check how much amp draw there is. It should be in the milliamps. I think Peppermint has a video on youtube for it.

[gnalan]

If there's a higher parasitic draw then that could be a bad regulator/alternator? Is there a way to measure the amperage the alternator puts out? Can the clamp ammeter measure from under the hood with the car running and all of the accessories on? I've never used one so I don't know how they work, and what's safe/unsafe to do with it.

[br0dy519]

DC Clamp meters are very safe as, you just clamp them around the wire that you're measuring current on. You could definitely put it on the alternator output wire and see how much it's drawing. Worst thing that could happen would be you would pop the meter's fuse if it went above the rated current of the meter.

Parasitic draw could come from any electronic module in the system. It's not a definitive diagnosis, just one of the troubleshooting steps I did to troubleshoot my bad alternator.

Here are the resources I used :

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=51058 (amazing thread on the regulator)