External voltage regulator has been "humming/moaning" the last few days upon start up and first minute of driving. Two days later, Battery TOTALLY dead. Replace battery--voltage regulator still moans. Replaced voltage regulator...still a slight moaning sound which gets louder when running the A/C. I'm not an electrician so ahhh, what the heck is going on?

 

What is the voltage at the battery with and without the engine running? What about with the A/C on?
How old was the old battery? How did the regulator connector look?
Other wiring look okay?
There is only one logical culprit left..........

 

Rob,
Am at work and cannot reply till I can go home and run diagnostics. Will reply with info then.
Thanks.

 

Car off--battery voltage 15.5----car running--starts at 15.5 and slowly climbs to 18.0--------car running & A/C on--16.0. Battery was only 1 and 1/2 years old when it died. Also, GEN light comes on while idling, but goes out while in PARK if you give it gas.

 

check your regulator ground and ALL of the wiring connections in the charging system all the way to the battery connections.
after that is good, haul the alternator down for testing if nothing changes.

new voltage regulators can be bad out of the box, if it's an electro-mechanical regulator it will need to be adjusted.


bill

 

I think Bill Demmer is right on this one. You probably have a bad voltage regulator, even though it's new. Or else, as he says, it needs adjustment.

If your car's battery reads more than 12 volts with the car off, it's overcharged, and that's consistent with the 18V reading you get with the car running. It ought be 15 to 15.5V with the car running. If the regulator is putting 18V to the battery, it's overcharging it.

There was another fellow very recently on here with a similar problem in another thread, and his symptom was burned battery cables. His voltage gauge was also reading 18 volts. Fortunately for him, he didn't fry the whole car.

 

UPDATE: went to NAPA who ran an ingition system check...totally different readings than my voltmeter at home. Highest output from alternator was 15.1 volts...of course voltage reg. is the brain behind what the alt is doing. CCA on battery was about right on, and starter was right on. This ridiculous "Whirring" noise from the volt. regulator gets louder as I accelerate, and dies down as the car slows. Regulator also feels like it is vibrating. Took off the cover...not adjustable.

 

Is your voltmeter working right? Pop a fresh battery in it and try again. One of my meters reads much higher when its battery gets low.

Getting the GEN light means voltage is too low from the reg.

I think you mentioned getting the lightweight electronic reg - if so, then yes it is not adjustable.
However, an electronic one would not vibrate, as there are no mechanical parts inside.

How does the wiring look? With engine off, pull the plugs on the alt and reg and look at the connectors to make sure they are clean, not dirty or burned looking.

Last thing would be to take the alt off and have it tested. Or did they do that?
Was that highest voltage with the alt on the car and connected to the reg?
How old is the alt?

If you cannot get this figured out, I can drop by some time and help you out...

 

WOW now that is service. It doesn't get any better than that. What a great place to find help and a really great guy. Lady72nRob71 is a super guy.

 

Careful. I think he's already married. Or at least spoken for.

 

We don't call him "Sparky" fer nutt'in

 

Final update: got yet ANOTHER new voltage regulator today. Chopped a semi-"questionable" wire and eyelet, stripped back some wire and put on a new connector. Left the condensor off, and used a bigger screw on one side of the regulator to ensure a tight fit/ground. Started up the car...problem solved. I hate doing the same job 3 times. Appreciated the responses.
Rob, you're lucky it got fixed, b/c unless you'd let me drive the car into your living room, you would have had to go outside( I know how much you love the heat) to help troubleshoot this issue

 

Glad to hear it. Always like to hear of a problem solved and what the solution was.

 

Thanks for the 'stellar' compliments! I am just a local enthusiast with an extra hand to lend...
We live just a half hour or less apart, so that would have been a good reason to get out of the house.

You must be thinking of a past life or somethun...

Here is the second reason......


Would it really be fun if you only did it once?
Kinds sounds like my gas main repair last week.
Take apart, remove split pipe, replace with identical pipe, now the two sections are too far apart. Replace new pipe with one 1/2" longer, put together with half of the old union which i found did not fit the half of the new union. Take apart, replace other part of union, reassemble, forgot the %*#! slip nut. Take apart again, add slip nut, reassemble correctly.
At least it is fixed now with no leaks...

Glad it is fixed. I forgot to mention the vital ground connection at the firewall.
If I came, it would have had to have been at the crack of dawn or after dark when is below 90.....