Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Asked by Cliff Armstrong on December 31, 2020
We’ve had the alternator rebuilt once and replaced it entirely with a brand new one. We’ve replaced the battery twice. Mechanics keep insisting it’s the alternator. And I quote "it’s never the wiring harness". I’m not a mechanic. I’m not an auto expert. But I’m handy with a wrench and have been up to my arm-pits in an engine’s guts (auto and marine) more than once in my life. And I fix computers for a living… so diagnostics is literally my bread and butter. So when a mechanic tells me it’s the alternator after rebuilding the original alternator and then replacing it with a new one… my BS meter pegs.
So I need to test this for myself. I need to eliminate the alternator as a possible cause. Alternator on a 2007 Mercury Montego should output 14 volts (correct?). I’ve seen the computer output. The computer says its outputting ~14 volts when the car has just been cranked but drops to ~12.5 volts after the car is actually driven around for a short distance.
How would I go about testing this so I’m testing only the output of the alternator… no possible interference from faults in the harness or misbehaving ECM? If I need to get out a multi-meter, I’ve got two handy.
You need to know how the alternator is controlled - either its regulator will be internal or external - even included as part of the engine ecu.
Easy enough to bench spin it with an electric motor and then provide a known good battery and a control system.
A control system can be as simple as a variable resistor to drive the rotor current, and if the regulator is internal then you can disconnect that for external control.
Answered by Solar Mike on December 31, 2020
Get help from others!
Recent Questions
Recent Answers
© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP