engine and drivetrain Voltage Rage!

[clara_pellar]

So I have a 76 2002 that I bought back in September, I have had a lot of fun with it thus far except for the following.

In the last few months I have replaced: Alternator, Voltage Regulator, Ignition Coil, Electronic Ignition, Battery, Every Bulb, and replaced or cleaned up most of the wiring/grounds in the engine bay and in the dash. Oh ya and I did the heater box twice just for fun!

The current problem is that my battery is being overcharged like crazy. Its strange when the car is cold the voltage regulator seems to do it's job, voltage at the battery and from the alternator under load come in right under 13 volts. After driving the car for 15 or 20 minutes though you start to notice the headlights/heater fan pick up with the engine rpm's. Voltage at the battery and from the alt will climb all the way to 17 volts! The new voltage regulator gets noticeably warm.

My question is: could this really be as simple as the new voltage regulator just being NFG? Or is the Alt just feeding it too much for it to handle?

Any advice is much appreciated!

[KFunk]

So I have a 76 2002 that I bought back in September, I have had a lot of fun with it thus far except for the following.

In the last few months I have replaced: Alternator, Voltage Regulator, Ignition Coil, Electronic Ignition, Battery, Every Bulb, and replaced or cleaned up most of the wiring/grounds in the engine bay and in the dash. Oh ya and I did the heater box twice just for fun!

The current problem is that my battery is being overcharged like crazy. Its strange when the car is cold the voltage regulator seems to do it's job, voltage at the battery and from the alternator under load come in right under 13 volts. After driving the car for 15 or 20 minutes though you start to notice the headlights/heater fan pick up with the engine rpm's. Voltage at the battery and from the alt will climb all the way to 17 volts! The new voltage regulator gets noticeably warm.

My question is: could this really be as simple as the new voltage regulator just being NFG? Or is the Alt just feeding it too much for it to handle?

Any advice is much appreciated!

I don't know where you got the voltage regulator, but I've had a couple nearly new ones from Autozone fail on my truck within a couple months.... They just don't make them like they used to, for some reason. They tend to use circuit boards now, when in the past it was a mechanical device that was more reliable.

Can you return your reg under warranty? That's what I did.

For my 02, I just bought a 320i alternator last time, which has an internal regulator (seem to be better than the quality of external regs these days). Not much modification necessary. You can cut off the harness and just use the one D+ wire, and you get 10 more amps for fun, too.

[c.d.iesel]

where did you buy the parts ?

new ?

used ?

brands ?

[clara_pellar]

I bought the voltage regulator on Pelican Parts new, it is Hella brand.

[c.d.iesel]

..... and the Alternator ?

[clara_pellar]

Bought the alternator from Pelican Parts as well, it's a Bosch.

[Napes]

FWIW I have the same voltage regulator in my '75 that it had when it came from the factory 38 years ago. Haven't touched it except to clean up the spades and plug every 10 years or so.

Bob Napier

[Hans]

I'd be looking at the regulator - I had one of those newer printed circuit ones bad out of the box.