Alternator/electrical issue

[guyatou]

Ah, and I came across a post by Garth from last year that mentions that using 14 volt bulbs in the turn signal indicator in the dash will cause a fast flash. I had to switch mine out this week because one of the original 12 V bulbs burned out and I can't find any 12 V replacements. I may shuffle some of the lights around and put the indicators back to 12 V and see if that fixes it. I'm constantly learning new things!

[guyatou]

Final update: Turns out the alternator was bad after all. The voltage regulator was on the fritz, but only when the headlights were on. It happened to start screeching again when I was a few blocks from an AutoZone, where the alternator came from (GM 1 wire). They tested it and the VR immediately showed bad. Hooray for a lifetime warranty! The rest of the electrical gremlins are gone too.

[theunz]

A lifetime warranty from the big parts stores on electrical items is a good move even though I think the lifetime item is the same as the cheaper item. In my opinion they are just basically selling you an insurance policy on the cheaper one. I'm pretty sure they don't really rebuild the parts, just replace what failed and then clean them up. Glad you got I fixed Michael.

[bikermike]

I'm on my 3rd alternator in 2yrs in the '00 Jeep. The factory one lasted 215k miles and 16 yrs.

Autozone's lifetime warranty versions aren't holding up as well. 12k miles on #1. 2k miles on #2. Let's see what happens with #3.

Is there a way to check if anything in the car might be frying them. It is externally regulated with the VR built into the ECU.

[Nissanman]

Poor quality is my guess. A modern alternator rated at at least 80A? should handle anything thrown at it!

[jrusso07]

Ah, and I came across a post by Garth from last year that mentions that using 14 volt bulbs in the turn signal indicator in the dash will cause a fast flash. I had to switch mine out this week because one of the original 12 V bulbs burned out and I can't find any 12 V replacements. I may shuffle some of the lights around and put the indicators back to 12 V and see if that fixes it. I'm constantly learning new things!

Certainly explains the high voltage on the flasher - and the smoke!