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1992 Explorer Battery Light on

garethhgriffith

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Year, Model & Trim Level
1992 Explorer XLT
I have a 1992 Ford Explorer 6 cyl. 4WD and the alternator just went bad. I went to the junk yard and got another alternator and took it to Advance Auto to have it tested and it was good. Replaced the alternator, jumped the truck and the battery would not hold a charge. I then got a new battery and everything seems to be running fine except that the battery light is still on, on the dash. (by the way....before the alternator went out the battery light was on, i drove it for about 2 hours and the alternator died) Got any idea why the light is on? Is there something that I need to reset to get it to go off? Is this something that I should be concerned about? Thanks in advance for any replies!
 



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Just checked the alternator/ battery voltage and I have 12.13V from the battery and 12.11v - 12.12v from the back of the alternator...from what I know the voltage is supposed to be higher like between 13 and 14.......is this a problem? Could this be why the battery light is on? Could the battery or alternator go out again because of the low voltage?
 






Yes, that is a problem. The Battery isn't charging. Since your not getting any charge out of the alternator either its bad, or the fuse that tells it to charge is bad. Since Advanced said the alternator is good, I'm leaning towards the fuse.

There is a small fuse in the under-hood fuse box that if blown will not tell the alternator to charge. I can't remember which one it is, or even how big it is today (not enough coffee) but its not a big fuse and its definitely not one of the maxi fuses.

~Mark
 






If you're only getting ~12V from the alternator with the engine running, it's not working correctly, and either the regulator on it is toast, or it's just not doing anything and the voltage is from the battery being connected to it.

I've had good alternators test "bad" and alternators that test "good" not charge at all, so what matters is whether or not it works on the vehicle and puts out ~14.6V.

You'll probably need another alternator, maybe the place you got it from will let you swap it out for a working one instead.
 






Yes, that is a problem. The Battery isn't charging. Since your not getting any charge out of the alternator either its bad, or the fuse that tells it to charge is bad. Since Advanced said the alternator is good, I'm leaning towards the fuse.

There is a small fuse in the under-hood fuse box that if blown will not tell the alternator to charge. I can't remember which one it is, or even how big it is today (not enough coffee) but its not a big fuse and its definitely not one of the maxi fuses.

~Mark



You were totally right, there was a small 15amp fuse under the hood that was blown......swapped it out and battery voltage went up and the light went off. Thanks so much for the info!
 






Fuse

Where is the fuse? I am having a similar problem
 






There is a fuse box under the hood of the car. There should be a 15amp one in there for the battery.
 






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