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The charging system works fine for about 15 minutes of drive time. After that the voltage guage drops and the battery light comes on. It has done this for the past three days. It seems that when it gets hot, the charging system shuts down. After cooling for a couple of hours, it works fine again. The battery has 12.4 volts on it with everything off and, after starting (and charging), 13.9 - 14.1 volts.
Should I change out both the alternator and the regulator? Or should I just try the regulator and leave the alternator alone. This is the original alternator with 214k miles on it. Is there something that I am overlooking? Thanks in advance.
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ddg. on my 92 exploder the alternator and regulator are all one unit and I replaced it when I began having the same problem you are. While youre in there clean the ground wire lug where it connects to the block
Red: I have a seperate regulator attached to the back of the alternator. I just didn't want to go to the expense of replacing the alternator unless it was necessary. Did changing both of them out cure the problem? I inspected all of the connections yesterday and they looked OK but I will remove and clean the ground when I get in there.
I went ahead and replaced the alternator with a new one that had a new regulator attached to it. Inspected the drive belt, which was fine and cleaned the ground lug. I have been driving it for two days and the problem has not resurfaced. Thanks for the advice guys.