Truck overcharging

[Joust]

my 1995 truck 22re has had the charge light coming on since I bought it. it is intermittent light sorta thing.

today I put my digital multimeter on the lighter socket to monitor the voltage.
when I left home the voltage was 14.25vdc and the charge light was on.
it was like that most of the way to work.
then the lights went off (normal Dash display now) and the voltage jumped to 16.25 and it slowly creeped up and actually touched 18vdc by the time I got to work.
when it touched 18v the abs...

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[Joust]

I'll either buy it from you, or give you cash as a deposit.
this is my daily driver now so i need this ASAP.
please help.

 

[Richard]

I'm not familiar with that particular setup, but here's some generic stuff to check.

Does the alternator have an external regulator? When you got the alternator tested was the regulator with it?

Check for dirty or corroded connections on all wires between the battery, alternator, and regulator. Check under insulation where the wire meets connectors, water may have gotten underneath.

Look for a separate small gauge wire that goes from the battery positive post to the regulator. This is a sense lead to provide an accurate battery voltage reading. If it were open the regulator would think there's a huge power loss through the charge cable and compensate by raising the output voltage.

Good luck!

 

[tlowe]

It sounds like a regulator issue........I am not that familiar with the 4cyl alts, but the one on my 3.l would do the same thing and it was always the regulator.

:beer:

 

[Joust]

yeah, thats sort of what I'm thinking too wrt the sense lead.
there is a connector between the alt and everythign else that according to the FSM is not there on the v6.

so I ordered a new ALT from Keith.
i'm not so sure thats the problem though.

What concerns me is that when the thing is working properly (outputing 14.25Vdc) the charge and Parking brake lights are on. When the lights go out, the alt is outputting too much voltage. explain that....

 

[Joust]

Well,
I fixed it.
I bought the new Alternator to install if my suspiciouns turned out to be wrong.
but, they were not. I was right. the White "sense" wire going back to the regulator had a knick in it and corroded right through. I put a splice in it and put it all back together with confidence and fired up the truck. It works like a charm.