Battery gauge hopping

[bvega01]

Hey guys I have a 1996 Explorer Sport, and for the past 2 months, my battery light has been turning on and off with the gauge dropping to less than a 1/4 the back to norm. Any ideas?

 

[wood1]

sounds like your alternator needs rebuilding, brushes sticking maybe? Pretty easy to replace the brushes. Brooklyn Bay has a how-to in his useful threads I believe.

 

[1AJeremyD]

Welcome to the forum! I would say that the alternator needs to be either be replaced or rebuilt. If you aren't comfortable rebuilding one you can find them for pretty cheap. My website has them available through the link below:


http://www.1aauto.com/1A/alternator/Ford/Explorer/-/-/1996

 

[bvega01]

Hey Jeremy I saw that on the 1A sit you have 2 options a 95 amp and 130 amp. Any major differnces in terms of mods that need to be made if I decided to go with a higher amp out put? I'm thinking of putting some fog lights or roof lights on the suv and a 120v socket.

 

[bvega01]

Just tested the Alt and it seems to be that a noise that I've been hearing coming from under the hood, kinda like brushes against metal, seems to be coming from the Alt. Also when running it ran btwn 12.5-13 (off) & up around 14.3-5 (running), but when looking at the meter I could tell when the gauge dropped, the meter would drop back down to around 12.3-5.

 

[1Aauto]

Welcome to the site

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! You could have an auto parts store or a rebuilder bench test the alternator.