My alternator is sizzling my Optima

[Limited Ex]

A few years back I purchased a 200 amp alternator from www.mralternator.com and have been very pleased with it. The last time I went wheeling, I discovered that my Optima was sizzling. Sounded almost like it was boiling. So I pulled the alternator and had it rebuilt, and reinstalled it. The Explorer did not get driven for about 3 months after that, up until yesterday. Today though, when I parked it and popped the hood, I discovered it was doing it again.

I would like this problem solved ASAP as I have a camping trip next week, and I really don't want to pay for a new alternator. I am going to check with the shop that rebuilt it, but I don't believe its going to be something they will take care of quickly. It was about a week and a half the first time around......

Thoughts?

 

[Tbars4]

...It sounds like you might have a "Voltage Regulator" problem...Bad/loose, connections on the cables might also cause this...

 

[IZwack]

yeah use a VOM and see how much voltage is coming out of the alt.

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, check the cold voltage and running voltage first. That sounds like the battery is receiving too much charge. Regards,

 

[jammer2]

I have a 85 ford ranger 6 cyl. My head lights were blowing out so i replaced the ault. And battery, when i tested at the battery i was getting 17.8 volts ant the battery was hot and boiling over. The new ault has an internal regulator in it ,later i found an external regular i questionet the parts house about the two regulators and they said that their was a high voltage regulator which is on the fender well and a low voltage regulator in the new alternator, is this correct? And if so then could the high voltage regulater be bad causing it to cook the battery??

 

[IZwack]

I dunno much about your particular alternator but most alternators work pretty much the same way and in a situation where the voltage is going way too high, I would check the 'sense' wire which reads the battery's voltage. If the regulator reads low voltage (or no voltage) from the sense wire, it will keep the output voltage of the alternator at high levels (such as 17.8v in your situation).

 

[jammer2]

i dunno much about your particular alternator but most alternators work pretty much the same way and in a situation where the voltage is going way too high, i would check the 'sense' wire which reads the battery's voltage. If the regulator reads low voltage (or no voltage) from the sense wire, it will keep the output voltage of the alternator at high levels (such as 17.8v in your situation).

ok, where is this sense wire and is their suppose to be two regulators on this truck? And thank you for the reply.

 

[IZwack]

http://www.autozone.com/shopping/repairGuide.htm?pageId=0900c15280077cf8
http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/04/ee/41/0900823d8004ee41/repairInfoPages.htm

Sorry I think the correct term for that wire is the "field" wire since an alternator at 100% duty is called "full fielding"

 

[Limited Ex]

It hasn't happened since I posted this this thread

I went and had both the alternator and the battery checked, and both are fine. The last time I had it on a long trip, every time we stopped anywhere, I would check the battery and it would barely be warm....