Has anybody ever had an issue with the low voltage regulator in the alternator? And if so was it acting up all the time or only randomly?

 

How many miles does your car have? It may be time for a rebuilt unit from the local parts store.

WD

 

What type of problem are you having?

 

Low voltage regulator? You mean the voltage regulator? Give some info like speedy says.

 

im assuming you mean just the voltage reg as ive never heard of a low volt reg in an alternator. i rebuilt my alternator a while back and replaced the brushes and reg. a year later the reg went out again and i had massive overcharge issues. the problem would increase as the car stayed running. would get up to 17v at times!

 

Sorry, I did mean the voltage regulator. The vehicle has 180K miles on it. The problem I am having is that car will start, I'll drive down the road and after a few minutes it starts to die off. The lights dim, the throttle stops working properly, and after a few seconds it just dies. Then it takes a few seconds to start back up and I have to give it over 2k RPM's in neutral to keep it running. After about a minute of that I can very quickly put it in gear and take off down the road. (each time I just took it back home)

I tested the voltage and it was at 14.1 with no load, and 13.5 under full load. That battery is brand new too. The Alternator tested good at Auto Zone, but I was told it still could be a voltage regulator issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Volt drop the alternator wire and the battery cables. Could be some sort of a connection that is corroded and when it gets heated up it doesnt like to function correctly.

 

The DC portion of the alternator is ok. However if the regulator were shot allowing too much AC out, you can test for it. Simply set the meter to AC and measure from the negative battery terminal to the output post of the alternator. You do not want to see over 0.03 VAC.

I don't feel that your problem is anything connected to the alternator however. I think your ignition switch needs to be replaced. The simplest way to test it is at connector C200. The 48pin conn. located between the column and the LH kick panel. Look for loss of power when the key is on on the brown, pink and orange wires coming down the column. Brown is hot in ACCY and RUN. Pink and orange are hot in RUN only.

 

thanks for the info. could the ignition switch failure also mess with my smog emissions testing and my gas mileage? all 3 problems came about at once.

 

Instead of a charging concern, have you thought about a clogged catalytic converter. If your exhaust is clogged going down the road, it will cause back pressure and eventually stall your vehicle. If you keep the RPMs up, then you can get by if it is partially clogged.

The next question is to ask how it got clogged. Did you have a MIL on recently? Were you running a bit rich? Did you have any exhaust leak before the cat?

Another option. If you have resistance, it will heat up and a voltage drop will find it under load.

 

Well now that you gave us some more information. Your light dimming issue, lack of throttle response and almost dieing are more likely related to a condition that is causing your engine to go so low in RPM's that the alternator can't put out. Since you're near stalling and poor fuel mileage, I would advise starting with the fuel system and rule in or out a couple of things. Pulling the plugs will confirm you are moving in the right direction also. This will give you a good platform to start with since fouled plugs can lead to the wrong conclusion. Incidentally, if all the plugs on a side are fouled that can mean you have a fuel or control problem. Less than 4 fouled on a side can indicate you have an ignition problem.

Before you go that far you will have already checked to be sure the entire air intake system is clear of any clogs, has no tears or breaks and the air filter is clean and dry.

First apply a vacuum to the FPR vac line to be sure no fuel comes out. If so, replace the FPR. If you don't see anything there, pull up the fuel rails with the injectors connected so you can see the tips of the injectors. then power up the pump to see if any are dripping. While your doing all this, check the fuel pressure and be sure you have changed the fuel filter already.

At that point it may be necessary to move to either the control or ignition side of the equation.

 

Thanks again Speedy. I'll try all that today. But if you want more information I have two other posts that I've put up a while back describing the problems.

https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=567124
https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=531839

Also, I should mention that I popped a code saying there is something wrong with the VATS

 

Just for giggles, replace the MSD coil with one from AZ or Advance. Reset the VATS code also. Let us know what happens