Just like the topic says. I have a volt meter with a mind of it's own. it will be fine for a while then just peak out and the battery light comes on. Checked grounds, played iwth the Alt. Battery is good? what's up?

-Mikey

 

volt meter gone bad

 

Am I in any sort of danger here or no? what should I do?

-Mike

 

Sounds like the meter is pooched. If it's an aftermarket gauge, see if you can get your hands on someone elses for a second and try it, that way, you don't spend money on a volt meter you might not need.

 

I've found that plugging a handheld digital voltmeter into the lighter socket (with some adaptive wiring, of course) works well as a reference.. seeing what your actual operating voltage is might put your mind at ease...

 

If your charge light is going on, sounds more like your regulator is going, the guage and the light run off two different feeds, when I did my 3G swap, there was some crap on my solenoid post, my voltage guage read fine, but my charging light was on. Cleaned the post, re-torqued the nut, light went out, but the entire time the guage read the same range of values. Try using a voltmeter for a comparison, should give you a good point of reference at least.

 

so you guys think that I should be looking at my voltage reg. before I decide to change my alternator out?

-Mikey

 

Isn't the voltage regulator contained within the Ford 2nd/3rd-generation alternators? I don't think you can change just the voltage regulator, unless you know how to rebuild alternators...

 

yeah...i's all one piece. i suggest you hook up a known good voltmeter before you do anything...

 

Definitely check your voltage before you change your alternator you could save yourself a lot of money. Next time you have the problem just put the voltmeter across your batterie and see what it says it should be no lower then 12.5 volts. When the engine is running. And no higher then 14V. If everything is good then you just need to look at voltage indicators outside the alternator.