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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 07:54 AM
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Alternator ?
My voltage is dropping to 11.7-12.3v at idle and as soon as I touch the go pedal it jumps up to 14.5

Is the alternator gone or is it the voltage regulator ?
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 09:16 AM
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give the alt casing a tap with a small hammer then check again at idle...hth
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 11:38 AM
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Originally Posted by fordpride
My voltage is dropping to 11.7-12.3v at idle and as soon as I touch the go pedal it jumps up to 14.5

Is the alternator gone or is it the voltage regulator ?
Regulator is probably starting to fail.

I kept my old alternator to someday replace the regulator to have a spare.
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 12:35 PM
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Interesting. Mind is doing that also, but my alt and batterys are only a year and a half old. The alt is from a shop around here not a parts store one. Of course i did let my truck sit for a while this summer whith out starting it much, maybe that had some thing to do with it.
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 07:02 PM
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Any way to test the regulator?
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 07:03 PM
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On a side note I noticed today the the top tank on my Rad. Is about to blow out. I'll post a pic later. FML
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 07:06 PM
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Originally Posted by fordpride
On a side note I noticed today the the top tank on my Rad. Is about to blow out. I'll post a pic later. FML
That sucks. Sounds like me, more than one thing has to happen at once..
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 08:11 PM
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Originally Posted by fordpride
My voltage is dropping to 11.7-12.3v at idle and as soon as I touch the go pedal it jumps up to 14.5

Is the alternator gone or is it the voltage regulator ?
Hard to say. When mine was doing that a few years ago I pulled the alternator and removed the regulator .. few bolts on the back and you can wiggle it out and the brushes come out with it. If the brushed are gone you can get those separate. In my case the brushes were fine.

Here is what the guts look like inside where the brushes sit and don't be afraid to pull it and look ...



IMO the slots where the brushes sit were worn down too much so I put it all back together, the auto store tested the alternator output, and told me it was good because it was outputting 12.5 volts. I told them they were nuts because our Ford alternators needed an output of 14+ volts.

Long story short, got a new alternator and all is well since.
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 08:19 PM
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Thanks Jim I'm just gonna replace the Atl. This weekend

But here's my other issue. It's all the way across the top tank
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 08:26 PM
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Yeah, that's not good!
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 08:27 PM
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I got a really good rad shop here so I'm gonna see about getting the tank replaced.

What do y'all think it'll cost?
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 08:52 PM
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Aww, just go ahead and spend some of that old moldy money and get an all aluminum radiator! LOL!!
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 09:01 PM
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i had booth tanks on my old car replaced a while back and it was around 100 bucks. Like bill said this is a good excuse to upgrade!
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 09:04 PM
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Y'all trying to cut into my turbo fund. Lol
 
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Old Sep 25, 2012 | 09:10 PM
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Originally Posted by ReBilld
Aww, just go ahead and spend some of that old moldy money and get an all aluminum radiator! LOL!!
YMMV, but the only components on my truck that are not corroded are the plastic ones.
 
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