ShadetreeSeattle
Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2017
- Messages
- 48
- Reaction score
- 26
ford bronco 1988. 4.9 inline 6 applies to any 2nd generation and likely 3rd generation ford alternator setup. (internally regulated style alternator)
complaint was that battery (charging failure) lamp was on. upon inspection i realized it was overcharging condition, instead of no charge condition. (also activates charging lamp!) never knew it did that for overcharge as well. anyways, we left it to sit overnight and the next day i go to diagnose further, and the battery's dead. so i recharge it, and hit the books again. i read up on 2g charging systems, and when i go back outside to test and see if something's staying live when it shouldn't be i noticed that the alternator was quite warm, compared to the engine which hadn't been ran all day. unplug the regulator's connector and the draw on the battery goes away. (watched battery voltage creep back up instantly) so i scored another voltage regulator from the junkyard and compared results between the two. it seems the voltage regulator under normal conditions switches the negative side of the field circuit but only when it get's power from the green wire which is controlled via ignition switch and also if it detects that the battery voltage is less than alternator voltage via yellow wire which goes to main solenoid power distribution point. in this case, the voltage regulator shorted closed circuit on the negative side of the field circuit. with vreg removed it shows a short between one brush and aluminum heatsink (normally it would not return path untill it comes alive with the ignition on and detects lower voltage on battery than alternator output. anyways, didn't see anyone discussing this failure mode of these alternator regulators. (typically in the past i have seen them just go open circuit and quit charging) hope this helps out someone. cheers!
complaint was that battery (charging failure) lamp was on. upon inspection i realized it was overcharging condition, instead of no charge condition. (also activates charging lamp!) never knew it did that for overcharge as well. anyways, we left it to sit overnight and the next day i go to diagnose further, and the battery's dead. so i recharge it, and hit the books again. i read up on 2g charging systems, and when i go back outside to test and see if something's staying live when it shouldn't be i noticed that the alternator was quite warm, compared to the engine which hadn't been ran all day. unplug the regulator's connector and the draw on the battery goes away. (watched battery voltage creep back up instantly) so i scored another voltage regulator from the junkyard and compared results between the two. it seems the voltage regulator under normal conditions switches the negative side of the field circuit but only when it get's power from the green wire which is controlled via ignition switch and also if it detects that the battery voltage is less than alternator voltage via yellow wire which goes to main solenoid power distribution point. in this case, the voltage regulator shorted closed circuit on the negative side of the field circuit. with vreg removed it shows a short between one brush and aluminum heatsink (normally it would not return path untill it comes alive with the ignition on and detects lower voltage on battery than alternator output. anyways, didn't see anyone discussing this failure mode of these alternator regulators. (typically in the past i have seen them just go open circuit and quit charging) hope this helps out someone. cheers!