bhermes

The story continues. After replacing the fuse, I let the car run for about 10 minutes to let the battery charge, and interesting enough the voltage issue has gone away at leat for the most part. I am getting about 13.5V at idle and about 16V at 2200 rpms (seems a little high but previously I was getting 17-18V at 1500 rpms). I turned on the lights and the voltage never got about 14V. Not sure if this means anything. I am thinking even more that it is in the voltage regulator connector. I have disconnected and reconnected about 10 times and maybe currently it is seated correctly. I am guessing the next time I drive the connection may work loose. Can this connection, female side, be purchased new and spliced on?

OK, false alarm. The above issue with the rpms was just a blown fuse (fuel gauge). I am beginning to lean torwards wiring issue on the voltage regulation problem and more specifically the round multi pin connector going to the voltage regulator (the female side). Not sure if this makes sence.

After messing up the light bulb check I now have another problem. My battery is dead apparently and car will start with a charger no problem. The rpm gage is not working and the rpms at idle are extremely high. Cant get them to come down. Any suggestions? I assume I did something when I shorted the bulb though the alt and battery but not sure.

Well I feel stupid again. I put both wires on the bottom of the bulb. Wire got really hot and was going to burn my hands. Luckily not to stupid to drop the wires. I will try again the proper way. Again thanks.

bulbs 1156 as suggested. I basically just took one wire from the alt to the bulb and then another wire from the bulb to the battery, in both cases. I had another person helping and we just held the wires on each of the locations; battery, bulbs, and alt. Not sure on the wire gage but I would guess 18. What should I use? When you suggested the bulb accross the battery do you mean neg to bulb and then bulb to pos? What do you mean be careful? Thanks

Finally got to try the light bulb check with little to no success. I could not get the bulbs to light up. With the engine off I could not tell anything going on at all except a few sparks. With the engine on I still couold not get the bulbs to light but both wire leads got hot. Again not an electrical expert by any means but maybe gage wire was an issue. Comments?

Back to the drawing board. New External Voltage Regulator and same problem. Idle Voltage is about 14V and raises to over 17-18V at higher rpms. Any more suggestions or time for big dollars at auto electric place.

5thhorseman, thanks for the patience and your take on the forum. \ To all, I bought the new voltage regulator and I am ready to install. I got the part from NAPA and talked them down from $105 to $86. The person there told me that once installed they would not take the part back. Never the less I got the part. The question here is as follows; should the car at idle be charging the battery (14.5V vs 12.5V). I am getting readings at or around 14.5V at idle and the person at NAPA said this is unusual and thought that I had some other problem other than the regulator. Also, since I am getting 11.6V at all rpms with the regulator unplugged I am assuming that with it unplugged the alternator stops working. Any idea on how long a car will run without a working alternator? Just a curiosity question.

Going back through all of the posts and trying to put all the pieces together I think that my best option at this point is to assume I have an external regulated alternator and that the external voltage regulator is bad. I am not positive but at this point I am going to try and get the first external regulator returned and purchase the new external regulator. I guess I will learn quickly if the problem is fixed and the voltage stays under 15V at the battery. If not I will take the car to a electrical auto shop for further diagnosis. I have learned a great deal from this post and I really appreciate everyone putting the time in to educate me and help solve my problem. I realize that this is mainly a forum to solve issues not educate so again thanks.

Can anyone explain how with the external regulator unplugged that at different rpms the voltage was regulated. If this makes sense then I am going to get a new regulator. It is just becoming very strange that every part I purchase for the car is bad. A few alternators and a battery and now a voltage regulator. I guess it is possible. I have a local electrical car auto place that I am soon going to take the car to. I know for sure you guys are doing the best you can without having the vehicle in front of you and maybe I need to get an expert that can look at the car.

OK, with car idling 14.2V, with car idling and lights on 13.4V, with car idling and lights on and 2 pin plug disconnected 12.1V. This is all with the external regulator plugged in. Reminder that with the external regulator unplugged at different rpms the voltage did not change. I know that this issue should be resolved but it is not. It seems that everytime I do something I determine the oposite of what appeared to be the case before.

Will try the suggestion tomorrow. However, when I unplugged the external regulator and checked battery voltage and got the following; 1000 rpms - 11.6V 1500 rpms - 11.6V 2000 rpms - 11.6V I thought this may mean that I have a internal voltage regulated alternator. A previous post stated that the alt output was proportional to the rpms. When the external was plugged in I got the voltages changing with rpms and ranging from 14V to 18V. Again I will try the suggestion to have additional data.

If you are tired of this post I will understand so ignore. I just dont see the issue with unplugging the external voltage regulator and running off the alt. inernal regulator with no other changes. For anyone that is an electrical expert here chim in. I am sure I am missing something but not sure what. Otherwise I need to search around for a fix if the 240 fix will not work. Again, if tired of the post ignore and move on.

I agree with you completely but the issue here is that the alternator was not supposed to be internally regulated and now I beleive it is. The marking that I can read are "S" and "A". I checked the voltage at the battery one last time and got about 11.6V at all rpms (idle - 3000rpms). Ordering plug and I am out. Thanks for all the help and education.

I have a delima, but not positive yet. Supposedly the alternator I replaced in the car is not internally regulated. At least by spec so I am going to try and find someway to determine. I beleive that you guys are telling me that the internal and external regulated alternators can be wired up the same. Obviously in one case you end up with two regulators and a problem. So if I have an non internal regulated alt then I simply have a bad voltage regulator. If I found out the spec on the alternator is incorrect and I have an internal regulated alt then I need to get the bypass connector etc. and modify the wiring to bypass the external alternator with a few other issues to check and be concerned about. I know that the alt came from Oreilly's Auto and is remanufactured.

SteveJ, first of all I would like to thank you for staying with this issue. I have learned alot and I think we have found the issue. I am a little confused with your last post. I have 17-18V at the battery at 1500 rpms with my extrenal regulator connected. I then unplugged the regulator and the voltage reduced to 14V. We concluded that this meant that the external regulator was bad. Would the same senerio occur if I have an internal regulated alternator hooked up to a external voltage regulator; with 17-18V with all hooked up and 14V with the extrenal unplugged. Meaning that the extrenal regulator is not bad just that I have two regulators in play. I am sure your last post and previous posts have answered this question but just having trouble pulling this last piece of information together.

Last thing before installing the new regulator and this may be stupid. Is it possible that I have a internally regulated alternator hooked up to a external voltage regulator? Can you tell by looking at the alternator? I assume that this may cause issues. Just want to confirm before I get stuck with two voltage regulators. Not a big deal but the $100 could be spent on beer this evening.

Running lights fine. Does the map light work regardless of rheostat. What about cig lighter.

I am on the back end of a major electrical problem with my 76 280 and with all of the help from this forum hopefully the problem is going to be resolved. So I am moving on to a not so series electrical problem. My dash lights do not seem to work. The map light, if that is what it is called seems to be the only light that does work. Any suggestions. Sorry to those who helped with the other issue but just looking for a place to start on this one. Thanks.

Two is enought to convince me. I will pick up the voltage regulator at NAPA on Saturday and install. Just need to hope the shop that installed the original regulator takes it back. Thanks for all the help and I will let you know what happens.

A little more information. At high rpms (1500-2500) the radio with the voltage regulator unplugged, is staying on. In otherwords apparently the voltage with the regulator unplugged is not exceeding 15V. I did not have help to actually read the voltage at the battery. A little clarification from the previous post. When I check with the 2 pin connector on the alternator unplugged should I also have the voltage regulator unplugged or should I try that with the regulator plugged in. I am still concerned that I have replaced all of these parts at least once which would have led me to beleive that there is a wiring or another problem. Additional help would be appreciated. We are almost there.

Also, can someone just educate me a little on fuseable links? Not sure where they are and what all they do. Any chance this is the issue? Thanks.

Checked car at idle again and got about 14.5V. Unplugged the external voltage regulator and got 12.3V. What if the wiring from alternator to voltage regulator has a problem would this occur or just if the regulator is bad? Does it make sense for the alternator to put out this kind of voltage (17-18V)? Other posts may have indicated it should not. This forum is great and really helping me so keep up the support. I learn quickly but no very little.

OK. Not the voltage regulator. NAPA part was the same as the one already on the car. NAPA is telling me that the alternator should not be able to put out that much voltage even if the regulator was bad. Not sure whats next. Again already replaced 2 alternators and battery. I think I am going to take the car to a electrical auto shop. Any other suggestions?

Wow. OK, after some consideration, I have removed the regulator, I beleive came from either Oreilleys or Advanced Auto, and have ordered a new one (external) from NAPA. I will be installing on Friday and hopefully the problem will be fixed. If not I will be asking for a little more help or next step. Pray, cross your fingers, or do the 280z dance(if there is one) and we will see what happens. Thanks for all of the help and guidance.