About 2-3 months ago on my way to work my van lights seemed dim & the battery voltage gauge on the dash showed low as if it wasn't charging. Later that day I threw a gauge on it & it was showing under 12 volts. I had a friend reading the voltage from a meter & when I reved the motor good, the voltage went up over 13 volts and then instantly it seemed to be working normal again. My batteries were old so I had them replaced since I didn't know how old they really were & were the same batteries since I've owned it.
So a few months go by & this morning the same thing seemed to happen. Upon start up in the morning, the lights seemed dim & I looked at the gauge & it was reading a little low on the dash. I reved the motor a little & instantly the gauge popped back up where it usually is & the lights came on bright. Driving to work, everything seems normal but if I put the A/C on, I don't see it drain on the battery like it usually does on the gauge from the dash.

Voltage regulator? Alternator? Anyone have something like this happen before?

It's a 06' E350 5.4L with a dual battery 130a system. Mileage 80k

 

You can also post this same question in the Electrical Systems/Wiring forum----this might be something common in the F-Series too.

 

It sounds like your alt is slowly going out. Take it to an auto parts store and let them test it for you

 

ALternator.....the E-series alternators have INTERNAL regulation...so If you have less than 14.6 V at idle the Alt output nut on the back........it is going downtown........at least on my Diesel thats the way it has been 3 alts later...not bad for 425K ....

 

That is the same vintage as our older fleet vehicles. The alternators were garbage until about 2010. We had lots of problems with them. I modified our 06 and 08 vans to use the 2010 alternators. We just ran a 2010 alternator up to over 730,000 miles before it failed. The 06 and 08 alternators wouldn't last 150k, and sometimes I had them fail at 80k. Always kept me guessing until I switched the fleet over. So glad I did.

The new alternator is a Mitsubishi product, top quality. If you plan to run your van for a few more thousand miles and get rid of it, then go with stock but if you plan to hang onto it for the long run, I wouldn't mess with the stock product. Get a 2010 or newer Mitsubishi and the pigtail connector for it - I think I got it on Rock Auto. Then you can just splice in the pigtail, drill the big positive ring connector out a bit to fit the harness lug and you're good to go!

 

DelGriffith you saying the Mitsu alternators will fit the earlier years too, like an '00 or '03 5.4?

 

I'm not sure about earlier than 06. It looks like there might have been a change in 06, but that doesn't necessarily mean it wouldn't work. The main thing is the belt width and mounting geometry.

I did forget to mention that I also had to take a strip of 1/8" steel about 1/2" wide by 4" long to make into a upper bracket to stabilize the top of the alternator. Sounds like some work, but for our fleet operation it made a ton of sense. I was so sick of messing with alternators, trying to guess when they were going to die. I performed the switch on 4 vans and they've each gone around 400,000 miles without a problem.

 

If you had a photo or two of your modification it would interesting to see!

 

So I finally had a job where I had to get into a van that had the conversion and thought to snap a photo. Pretty simple, the lower mounting bolts fit right in. I made a simple bracket to stabilize the alternator up top - the 1/8" strap in the photo. I drilled the main power lug out slightly larger to fit the 2010 stud. Then there's the matter of the connector plug. The original connector won't plug in, but you can get a pigtail. Search ebay or google for "2010 Ford E250 alternator pigtail". Cut the original plug off and splice in the new connector. I forget the color match up but if you do it wrong you'll get 12 or 13 volts, do it right and you'll have 14.5. There was something slightly counter-intuitive, like a light wire went to a darker wire or something like that. Anyhow you won't break it if you connect it wrong at first, just look for the right voltage.

Thinking about the swap, it's probably only practical for a serious operator. I absolutely love the fact that I don't have to worry about alternators anymore, but if you only plan to run your van to 200k miles or so, it might not be an issue. Replace the alternator once and you're probably good. We run them over 1 million miles and can't mess with alternators that fail every 80-150k miles or some such child's play. Ymmv.

Del Griffith

 

Thanks for thinking to post a follow-up photo. Next time I'm under the hood I'll snap a photo of my '03 and compare the differences.