Electrical Poltergeist! Hold the diagnosis!

[PUSHKAR OGALE <pushkar.ogale@usa.net>]

Hello to the original poster and all the repliees.

I and yet another list member have had similar problems with the alternator overcharging. The other guy said his problem seem to be intermittent and fixed by a voltage regulator swap.

But I have had a very different experience.

Firstly I will suggest that if your voltage regulator is indeed bad then swapping it for a new one may fix your problem. BUT...

Your voltage regulator may not be bad at all as was in my case. I swapped a perfectly good regulator with another perfectly good regulator.

Then I had my alternator tested, and it came out ok on the voltage but low on the current.

I have not changed to a new alternator as I am still trying to figure out what is wrong with my car.

I have a new theory for the past 2 days. I think my oil pressure sensor unit is shorting causing the alternator to send out vast amounts of current, this in turn causes the dazzling bright headlights and a noticeably larger load on the engine. The symptoms in my car are that this shorting is occuring everytime at at specific engine temperature and then goes away after the engine is completely warm, never to come back till the car is started again from cold and it reaches a specific operating temperature. This much is repeatedly observable. And the reason I suspect it is the oil pressure sensor is that that oil LED on the dash lights up when the symptoms occur and it's brightness is directly proportional to the engine rpms/alternator rpms.

So if a simple voltage regulator swap does not cure your symptoms, look for shorting in some of your other electrical connections. Look for signs of LED's lighting up when these symptoms occur. 

Also remember that a good/new voltage regulator will only attempt to regulate voltage to 14Volts. There is no guarantee that it can do so if there are other problems.

Pushkar Ogale
(Who is still figuring out what the hell is going on with my charging system)



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