Dr. Dynamics

Hi everyone,

Has anyone experimented the following symptoms to know if it's the alternator, regulator or battery?

- Starter cranks slowly to the point to have to push the car

- When cruising at night and flooring it past ~3k rpms, all electrical accesories suddelny increase their strength (headlights appear like HID , a/c fan suddenly increases speed , dash lights, etc..)

I measured the battery before starting (12.7 V), during idle (13 V), and if accelerated when parked (15V)

The car has been stroed for a couple of years and recently taken out for daily use. Is the starter cable corrosion so bad to cause sluggish cranking? I cleaned the contacts and Ground strap.

Thnaks

J. Brinkley

anything measured higher than low 14+ is usually volt reg.

theiceman

With all due respect if you can not change your own alternator belt I would not suggest trying to take your alternator out. But I think what you should do is.

1. learn to change your belt and keep a spare in your car ( takes about 10 min to change ) The tools should be in your tool kit.
2. Regardless of how the alternator feels change the bearings. A descent shop should do this fairly cheaply. I pulled my alternator , read the bearing numbers off them, got new ones and took them to a alt shop where they had a press and the guy did it for $30.00. I have a 78 so I am sure my bearings are different.

It is true that an alternator is not designed for 100% duty cycle and a bad regulator could put it at 100% duty cycle but it would boil your battery. The alternator system is under more strain when " charging" as the field effect set up by the regulator is fully active and creates resistance to turning, but holly crap is that ever marginal.

Good luck.

Dr. Dynamics

Thanks for the bearing tip. It's a good "while your there" job. I forgot to mention that the seatbelt light turns on when the symptoms happen.