BrooksBier

I have a 1987 carrera and had an escort radar detector installed. It lately has been powering down on its own and says high voltage before it does so. In addition, my headlights sometimes surge. I took a drive today and had the escort measure voltage during the drive. About 5 minutes into the drive, the voltage read to a max of 16.2 volts but was around 14 most of the rest of the drive.
I have heard that alternators on these cars were a trouble spot. I do not have any other symptoms but does it sound like I need a new alternator from what I describe?
If so, should I get the upgraded one for around $700 from Pelican or should I just buy a rebuilt one?
Thank you.

theiceman

Well you definitely have a failing alternator ( regulator built into it actually ). Lucky for you your radar detector warned you or you could easily boil your battery . I would be checking there anyway and flush it out well with a baking soda/ water solution if you suspect you have purged acid into your car.

Anyway i would suggest having your own rebuilt with a quality regulator . Loren has commented on this a fair bit before. You may even be able to source your own regulator from ******* and put it in yourself ..

..okay my warped sense of humour ..Pelican may have one but i would park the car and get that alternator out stat.

BrooksBier

Thank you. Bummer.

kevinr1247

I just bought a rebuilt one and installed it from PP. I was having different issues though. I was getting a slow voltage "pulse" where things would go dim, then bright, then dim. After about 2k miles, no trouble that I can detect. Alternator solved the problem.

Others probably have more specific advice. Might just be the regulator? My alternator was making a noticeable whining noise.

tbanasiak

+1 on voltage regulator. Same symptoms I experienced with the lights, also radio volume would cut in and out but no whine from alternator. Easy DIY job to replace.

Brett San Diego

It will be far more economical to pull the alternator out yourself and take it to a local rebuilder for rebuilding. I'd say you don't likely need an "upgraded" alternator, just your current one that has new components (i.e. a rebuild). To find a rebuilder, open up your yellow pages, google search for local shops, ask the local PCA folks, or call up a respected local air-cooled Porsche shop and ask who they use. Or just take the car to a shop, let them pull your alternator out and send it to their favorite rebuilder. Letting a local shop do that is still probably cheaper than paying $700 for the alternator alone from Pelican Parts.

If you're into the DIY thing, I just wrote up a bearing replacement article which shows how you can replace the voltage regulator yourself in the process of replacing the bearings.

https://rennlist.com/forums/911-foru...placement.html

There's a good chance that bearings and regulator are all you need to replace.

Brett

rusnak

I think you might just replace the regulator, or take the alternator in to a shop for new bearings and brushes (not needed, just a safety precaution). There was a thread on the bearing replacement a few days ago.....

dshepp806

Battery aside,..that DME doesn't care for high voltage spikes,......if you've no records on the alt, I have it reworked (or repaired) and a fresh regulator...

I had a similar situation (a couple of years back) where the R/Det threw the alarm for over-voltage,..very intermittently. It was only after 3 of these bad boy warnings that I installed a fresh alt/reg...I found the ORIGINAL alt in there, from 1989,...very comforting since.

DME good to go....

BEST!

Doyle

Radcap

Hello, be carefull on just replacing the VR. I have been in and out with this for a while, replaced the VR last year and just a couple weeks ago finally replaced the alternator. it seems as though if you are taking the time you would be better off doing both.

just my 2 cents

Rod,

BrooksBier

Thank you to all. I will bring it in tomorrow to my local shop to get a for sure diagnosis and then act depending on what they find. I'm hoping it is just the VR. Car has about 134k on it and received a new alternator at around 70k so it is close in terms of timing for needing a new one. If it needs a whole new alternator, I may do it myself. If it is the VR, I will have them do it right away while it is there.

theiceman

seemed pointless posting here then ...