Posted by Sherman in Idaho [24.32.202.166] on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 18:29:52 :
In Reply to: OT but MOpar posted by Kaegi [24.16.253.154] on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 17:44:43 :
Generator probably won't put out anything at idle even if the system is perfect. The modern ones do, but the old ones didn't usually. Could it be some previous owner didn't know that and cranked up the regulator in an attempt to get some charging out of it at idle? If it's a mechanical regulator, you might just try adjusting the voltage coil.
But before you do any of that, put a voltmeter on the battery and see what the voltage is while it's "overcharging". If you have 15 volts or something like that, then yes, the regulator definitely needs adjustment or replacement, but if the voltage is below 13 and it's drawing that kind of current, the battery likely has a shorted cell. When that happens, the voltage can never get high enough to satisfy the regulator so it keeps trying to pump maximum current into it. Most of the time, whenever anyone has any sort of charging system problem, by the time they're done they've replaced the alternator, regulator, and battery, because they didn't know how to find out where the real problem was (which might have simply been wiring also).
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