Electrical gremlins 1st gen ranger help?

[The83RangerMan]

OK so today i went to jump start a car and i noticed my batt was warm prob 70 deg or so and the acid was gurgling and hissing out the vents. So i put a tester to it. At the batt i got a reading of 13.7 volts with ignition off 14.7 volts at idol, and 15.1 volts at around half throttle. So ok voltage regulator went bad, now the regulator was only 6-8 months old but stuff happens. so I replace regulator. No change volt readings were the same. well batt was just barely enough for the truck anyway came out of my four banger b2000. So I upgraded to a new 800 cca batt. (note old bat tested good in the batt tester at parts store.) While replacing batt i realized ground to block was corroded so i took apart cleaned with wire brush and put back together. Go back to parts store to drop off old dead core batt, and have them test again, now at half throttle its up over 16 volts at the batt, so they warranty the regulator again just for the he11 of it and give me another, and its still up at 16 volts. all fuses are good, no surges, no hot wire bundles to indicate a short, However my temp gauge is all over the place only elec issue i can find and i think the sender unit went bad. Any ideas I'm all sorts of confused and just about out of ides almost time to tear dash apart but i swear there aint no shorts. Or could this be normal even with being way out of the safe parameters.

 

[adsm08]

Or could this be normal even with being way out of the safe parameters.

I think that question answers itself. Nothing outside of "safe parameters" is normal, except for your driving.

You have a separate regulator and alternator, correct? If so, have you replaced the alternator? If your problem has been present through 2 or 3 regulators, time to look at the alternator.

 

[CHKNFKR]

I'm with adsm. The regulator can't do its job properly if the input voltage is out of range.

 

[The83RangerMan]

I was thinking that two i just didn't feel like tearing the alt out today, ill do it sat, take it in and have it tested. i also just figured that it wouldn't really matter what the alt was doing as long as the reg is working properly. and i don't really see how an alt could produce so much energy to cause this.

Nothing outside of "safe parameters" is normal, except for your driving.
And I am told that by any and every person who gets in any vehicle i drive only people i cant scare are the ones crazier than me and i only know two lol.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Pull all the grounds apart and sand them metal to metal. Adding a ground to the alternator can`t hurt. Check for shorts pull the + terminal off the battery and check for shorts between the + wire off the batt to ground. Normally over voltage is a bad or missing ground batt to engine, batt to chassis, engine to chassis, engine to regulator/base. In the tech library under charging system diag will show you how to test the system dont run it very long until you can pass both the load and no load tests.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Then you can worry about any components you may have fried.

 

[adsm08]

i also just figured that it wouldn't really matter what the alt was doing as long as the reg is working properly.

Think of the alternator like a river and the regulator like a dam's spill-over. If the river surges badly enough upstream the spill ways won't be able to properly relieve the pressure and water runs up over the top of the dam (or it just flat out breaks).

It sounds like your alternator has gone bad (the epoxy has probably worn off the windings allowing the separate coils to touch) and is overpowering your regulator.


Your charging system is pretty simple. You have a B+ wire, the regulator, and the alternator itself. B+ wire can make it not charge but more than likely won't make it over charge. The problem has persisted through 3 regulators now, likely not the problem. Process of elimination leave the alternator.

 

[The83RangerMan]

well i took the alternator in this morning and it tested good. So completely pissed and confused. I grabbed a couple batt ground wires at the store and, ran new grounds from batt to block, block to frame, block to ignition coil, ignition coil to cab via the voltage regulator screw. Guess what test it again and everything good. I guess one of the grounds just wasn't workin but they were fairly clean, idk but its all Honky Dorry now took her up in the hills to celebrate with a beer and some flyin snow lol.