Hello from the newbie, need help

[jbeamon]

Hi everyone. My name is John. I worked as a mechanic on and off for about 12 years. I must say I am glad to find this forum. My first car when I was 18 was an old '73 Ford Mustang notchback. I just bought my first SUV, a '97 Ford Explorer, installed an HD Radio/MP3 cd reciever and a remote start alarm. Owned the explorer for 2 months now and starting to have issues. The battery light was starting to come on intermittently. When I start the engine when cold the light comes on but will go out once the engine is at operating temperature. This has been happening for a couple of days. Now it just stays on. I checked the voltage while running and I get about 13.0 to 14.0 V. When the light is on, I am getting 13.0V. Had the alternator tested and I was told that the alternator was fine. So what's with the battery light? Could it be a diode in the alternator?

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome john

 

[Dopler174]

I know this may sound strange, but I had an alternator that would charge top notch until it got warm. It sounds like yours may be doing the same thing.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! It could have bad diodes, a regulator or dirty battery terminals.

 

[jbeamon]

Thanks for the advice

Cleaned the battery terminals then had the alternator checked again to find that there was no current. So I am replacing the alternator.