charging problem
 

drving home from work and my battery light comes on a few blocks before my house, volt gauge drops. went home got multimeter, batt (only 2k on it)was reading 12.8 volts. started the car, batt light came on again, and was reading around 12.0 with the car running! lshut it down, et it sit, too busy to mess with it. started it up a few times the next day, charging fine at 13.8 (around there, i forget exactly). a few days later the batt light comes on again at startup, volt gauge lower than usualy, and u can tell the car was not getting enough power. shut it off and restarted and the car was running fine again. whats going on! didnt see any loose connections at alternator. alternator put in about 15k ago, but its a cheap $70 remanufacted piece of junk that replaced the previously installed remanufactured piece of junk that only lasted 8k. gonna put in a 3g, but need a quick fix, any ideas?

New Alternator
 

Sounds like you need a new alternator. Its not unusual, because they go bad all the time in Ford vehicles.

Re: New Alternator
 

i thought that might be the problem, but i thought once the alternator is shot its shot? why would this the car chage perfect one day and not charge at all other days? if the alternator was beat i figured it would NEVER change.........

Sometimes they start to go bad slowly. You'll notice your engine idling highly and your gauges going wacky, until finally the motor stalls and won't start again. It has happened to me and it sucks.

The alt is probably taking a shit. If I had to guess it would be the diodes are taking a shit inside. You could always take it by the autozone to double check but I would say its the problem.

thanks for the info. just thought twice about suspecting the alternator since it works perfect most of the time, and does not work at all other times. i've had alternators fail before, and they usually get gradually worse till one day your gauges go insane, your stero shuts off, and your stuck on the road. never have one go "off and on" like this. i wanted to pick up a pa perfoance alt anyway, just hope it solves my problem.

It might also be the voltage regulator going out or something else. I went through the same thing with my externally regulated rebuilt 1970's style chevy alternator the FHP installed. I had the thing rebuilt about 4 or 5 times (every 8K) before finally buying a rebuilt 3G. I've never had a problem since (about 30K). The only work you'll have to do is to grind down the bracket a little bit. It should only take you about 30 minutes to do the job since by now you're an alternator swapper expert :D .

Just out of curiosity, you haven't installed any new gauges in your instrument cluster lately, have you?

not yet, gauges and msd 6a i have at home on hold till i fix my lack of instrument cluster lights (hopefully a new dimmer swtich will fix it) and get this PA performance alternator i ordered installed. keep in mind, i also play with the 72 challenger!

I was asking because the charging circuit goes through the instrument cluster, and if you had made any changes, that could have been the problem. Fairly common complaint; 'I pulled my instrument cluster out cause I want to change it, and my alternator crapped out'.

:)

Have fun with your toys. :)

rec'd 3g alt from pa-performance, also ordered a march #1000 pulley kit and had pa-performance install the larger (2 1/2")march pulley on their alt and include pa's pulley (2 1/4") as well. i dont have an electric fan, but i do have 1 amp, cd changer, stereo, speakers. obviously, the smaller pulley charges better, but should i be fine with the march pulley or should i use the smaller 2 1/4" pulley provided?

That's true. Same thing happened to me. You can also excite the circuit and get it charge while the cluster is out manually by touching a wire from the + terminal on battery to one of the terminals on the voltage regulator (sorry..forget which one). Blipping the throttle on my car to a moderate-high RPM also worked for me.

It's really easy to tear the clear plastic "circuit board" that connects everything in the cluster. Especially in the connector area. It tends to wear through quickly since it wasn't really designed to be removed a lot. Learned the hard way - had to remove dash on a hunch after putting it all back together during heater core repair.

I'd go with the larger pulley, but I get that way as I get older. lol.

Since the smaller one is on, try it. If it doesn't cut it, swap 'em.

Ahhhh, yes. The dreaded Curse of the Heater Core. lol. Damn things always seem to spawn other problems. lol. Hey, just think how much wiser you are now! :)

the larger 2 1/2" march pulley is alreay installed on the alternator, thanks man

Duh Chris. lol

That's what I meant. I typed it backwards. If it were me, I'd install the smaller pulley on the alternator, but since the larger one is already on, give it a shot and see if you have any problems. If you do, try installing the smaller one.

You know what I meant. lol.

Take care,
~Chris