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Keep killing Alternator Volt Regulators

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Chrispy0530

Chrispy0530

15+ Year Contributor
913
26
Aug 7, 2008
Miami, Florida
So I've now gone through 3 Alternators so far, and each one ends with the voltage regulator dying out.

First time it died out, the car barely charged and left me stranded. Now second time, the 3 ALT lights came on super bright as well as every single interior lighting. Meaning my system was over-charging the higher RPM I went.

Now, prior to those symptoms. My car would do exactly this. First start up of the day. No problems. I go to Starbucks to get my morning coffee. Returning back to my car, I fire it back up and the Alt, Battery, and Coolant lights are slightly on/dim. I rev the car up to about 2.8k and they go away until I turn the car off, and start it back up right away.

Now if I let the car sit for about a good say, hour or more. This doesn't happen at all. Only when I have driven the car for about 30 minutes, shut off and then start it.

This has been going on for a very long while, and I JUST had my alt rebuilt again 2 days ago. The symptoms were completely gone until today. Just started happening. Which means I have about 2-3 months till the voltage regulator dies yet again.


I have no idea what could be causing this, as I'm at a loss when it comes to the electrical side of things. Battery has already been replaced. Holds charge perfectly fine.
 
Where are you getting your alternators? Do you still have your heat shields? I know I was going through napa alternators like crazy,swapped to the oem one,put the lower heatshield on,and no more fried alternators. Heat kills the store brand alternators fast. Have your battery as tested as well, dont want to be overcharging the new alternator because of a bad battery. Check for a slipping belt as well,or too tight of a belt.
 
Yep. Already checked the battery, still good. Alt is rebuilt from a guy who does a decent job with them, barely ever see's any returns.

About the mid heat shield, don't think it's possible with a Evo III 16G in place. Don't have the top one on either yet. Though I will soon (Don't see how it will help the alt)
 
K. I have read in quite a few places that non-OEM Alt's take heat horribly compared to OEM's. So eventually, when this ALT dies again I'll go ahead and swap in a OEM one.

Though, can anyone else shine some possible solutions to this? Cause I know a lot of people who are running Autozone/Advance ALTS and have a setup that creates way more heat then I do and run perfectly fine with no shields.
 
Did you unplug or damage the relay that is right next to the stop boost control seleniod? I forgot to plug mine in once and was running 16 volts in upper rpm's
 
antilag said:
Did you unplug or damage the relay that is right next to the stop boost control seleniod? I forgot to plug mine in once and was running 16 volts in upper rpm's
Click to expand...

Yep, it's plugged in.


Saturn alt swap and problem fixed. You gan get a bad ass one for the same or cheaper than the weak OEM one.
Click to expand...

Don't have the time at the moment to make the tweaks to get it in.





Now here is something interesting that I was told, that I think is total BS. I have a smaller battery in the trunk, very similar to the one STM sells, but made by Interstate-Batteries. I know a few evo's that run with it and 240's with no problem once so ever. Some of them even have a small 12 Sub.

Someone pointed out, that was my problem. The fact that I was running a small battery, and needed to put back an OEM size one. From my understanding, I thought a battery only acted as a filter while the car was running, and is only important when it comes to cranking the car.

Granted, I've switched to 2 newer batteries thinking maybe they went bad. But They are tested good. I'm not convinced this is my problem, but maybe I'm wrong?
 
Your ALT is now trying to keep up with the demand of 2 batteries. You will need a larger ALT or cut down on the amperage your using.
 
Would Rewinding an Alternator be a possible choice? Or am I going to have to get a Saturn Alt?

I have no HID's, or Woofers of any kind yet. But was planning on getting them.
 
Okay. So apparently, and unfortunately I'm still going through this problem. Switched the alternator and no dice.

So as everyone told me. Put another, or a larger battery and it will solve your problem. Done. Put a second small battery. Guess what. Problem still exists.

I added so much more ground hoping that was a possible problem too. But nothing.


So now I'm stuck. Why is it that OEM alts work with other cars but not mine? Why does the ALT stop charging out of no where.


Will start looking into getting an alternator swap done. I have a pretty good idea on how it's done. Will try to tackle it this week. My only question is what specific year and model do these alts come from? The ALT swap thread is many pages long.
 
Your link doesn't work.

OP, have you verified your wires are good and not corroded causing increased resistance? Also, heat does kill alternators and while the 16g isn't producing as much heat, it wouldn't hurt to block the head from the manifold and turbo/o2 housing if possible.

Have you done any other electrical tests?
 
LiQUiDx said:
Your link doesn't work.

OP, have you verified your wires are good and not corroded causing increased resistance? Also, heat does kill alternators and while the 16g isn't producing as much heat, it wouldn't hurt to block the head from the manifold and turbo/o2 housing if possible.

Have you done any other electrical tests?
Click to expand...

Yes, yes and yes.

Everything has been double checked, all ground contacts have been checked for any corrosion. Found one ground that was a bit corroded. Cleaned it up, and coated it. All my wiring has been quadruple checked.

It just happens while the car is driving. I have my boost gauge set as a Volt Meter on ECMlink V3. The car will be driving and bam it drops to nothing. Revving the car to 3k rarely works now while driving. 3 Alternator lights also don't appear. The ALT just quits charging. SOMETIMES it'll kick back up if I get lucky revving it.

Problem goes away when the car sits for a few hours, but shortly arises after about 15 min of driving.

Chrispy0530 said:
Yes, yes and yes.

Everything has been double checked, all ground contacts have been checked for any corrosion. Found one ground that was a bit corroded. Cleaned it up, and coated it. All my wiring has been quadruple checked.

It just happens while the car is driving. I have my boost gauge set as a Volt Meter on ECMlink V3. The car will be driving and bam it drops to nothing. Revving the car to 3k rarely works now while driving. 3 Alternator lights also don't appear. The ALT just quits charging. SOMETIMES it'll kick back up if I get lucky revving it.

Problem goes away when the car sits for a few hours, but shortly arises after about 15 min of driving.
Click to expand...


tenn-gsx said:
second try. 91-97 SC/SL Series 1.9L
Click to expand...

Regarding AMPS for the alt, which would be recommended? 105, 160, or 200?

I eventually plan on putting a small 12" sub, and HID's. Just haven't done so cause of this problem I've been having for so long.
 
I myself have killed or been giving 8 REMAN alternators from pepboys. I think I may have tracked my issue down to the fuse box. Should I have two wires running to one side of the alt fuse and another two wires running to the other side of the fuse and only one wire running to the fusible +b 60A fuse like this:
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3398/img2241f.jpg

@TENGSX What do you mean by "self exciting" ? I'd like to buy that alternator you linked us to but I'm scared I will just fry it.
 
Alright, so it looks like I'll be ordering the 105amp (I think that should be enough hopefully) and the SE Voltage Regulator add on.

I'm really hoping this will solve my problem and not just fry this alternator as well.




*Edit*
Order placed! Did 105 AMPS W/SE Reg.

Hope, hope, hope this fixes my problem. This problem is keeping me from doing other things that I want to the car. Thrown away too much money.
 
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