Alternator volts

[buickGN3:16]

No doubt that you need to replace the alt.

In the past 3 months I had had 3 alternators go out just like yours on 2 of my cars as both of them are set to 14+ volts output.

I finally gave up on rebuilds, or buying a repair kit, as Autozone has the 120 amp unit like original equipment with a lifetime warranty for $120.

My opinion is that the solid state components do not like the added output, and they give up early in their life especially since I run them at WOT and 14+ volts a lot!

With my race car, I always have a spare alternator when at the track.

As far as the Powermaster unit, they perform well, but they also die an early death when pushed at 14+ volts, so why spend 3 times the $$$?

awesome nick thanks man! As they just opened a autozone in my town 6 miles from me.. is this alt adjustable on volts? & if so how do i do that? Do u by chance have a part# for this alt?


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[Nick Micale]

The part number for the alt I purchased is: 434735.

I gave them a core so I did not have to pay the $15 additional, the actual price is of the AZ unit is $119.99, which is about what I paid when I had my old one rebuilt, and did not get a lifetime warranty?

If you use a Casper's volt booster, you can get 14+ volts when TPS is above 70% when you need the extra voltage, or amps as some of the electrical nerds will say.

No dis-repect to you "electronic nerds", as I wish I had more knowledge in that area!

 

[buickGN3:16]

yes i have a caspers volt booster installed, i have a junk core laying around, theyr not getting my original buick core lol.. did u change the volts output on that part# alt or is it already set up to 14ish?? thanks for the info nick, much abliiiiged!


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[johnl455]

I'd next check the alt output voltage with a real meter like a Fluke at the output terminal, and see if it jives with the SM when the drop happens. Are the lights dimming at the same time? Could be false data.

 

[johnl455]

Stock Delco regulators are temperature compensating. At very cold start you should be approaching 14.5, then drop to about 14.2 and if it's really hot long term it should taper to as low as 13.8 (or so). This is to emulate the required voltage to fully charge the battery at different battery temps. Mopars ( my Jeep) do this with the regulator in the ECM and a temp probe thermistor under that battery tray. Alternator has no regulator. Fords??? I don't know but am curious.

 

[buickGN3:16]

yeah the dash lights & all dim down some thats when i noticed it & switched to bat on the scanmaster & thats when i saw 11.8 - 12.5's & then all of a sudden it jumps back up to the 13's - 14.2.. it hasent dunnit again in the last few weeks, strange


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[we4Mateo]

yeah the dash lights & all dim down some thats when i noticed it & switched to bat on the scanmaster & thats when i saw 11.8 - 12.5's & then all of a sudden it jumps back up to the 13's - 14.2.. it hasent dunnit again in the last few weeks, strange


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Fix it though. If it does it under boost it won't go well.

 

[buickGN3:16]

will do mateo, im thinking about trying the part# alt that nick mentioned back in post#22 in this thread.


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[f117v6]

Having same type problem was wondering did you go with the auto. zone alt. nick mentioned. I have caspers volt booster also , did this fix your problem and did you like the A.Z. alt. Thanks Tom

 

[buickGN3:16]

naa man i never made in there yet, mine hasent acted up again so i've been letting it go for now. for the price its not a bad choice & when i do it thats the one im gonna try!

 

[v6turbo87]

http://www.seturbo.com/cat-buick/show_image.php?pro_id=CRM1000

Here is a chrome alternator for $275

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[GNRick]

I have a brand new alternator and sometimes the idle drops a bit and the volts drop about .5 volts, then everything picks right up after a second or two. I think the chip or iac causes the drop, not the alternator.

 

[GNXV6]

I had the same issue and drove me nuts. Long story short, it turned out that it was the copper terminals in my dash that plugs in like an old atari cartridge. The brown wire that leads from the alterantor into the dash had a bad connection in the dash which was causing my alternator to appear bad but it was not. If this is your problem you have to take the dash out and clean the terminals with Lysol toilet bowl cleaner with lime and rust remover and use q-tips. Also take the light sockets out and clean them too especially the battery/alt one. I changed the bulbs while i was in there and cleaned all the copper where the sockets are attatched. If you had a casper's field fix and the problem goes away then it's definatley your dash.

I found an article on this after doing a search on google but it was posted on one of the buick boards with great detail. I cant seem to find it right now while typing this up for you.

 

[GNVenom]

Here's what you're looking for:

http://www.installationinstructions.com/FYI/alternator_charging_tech.pdf