Save my alternator! (Ford parts)

[87natty]

OK, so I'm having issues with the alternator of my Grandfather's 71 Ford LTD. I got the alternator over a year ago, and it's had about 5 hours of time on it at the most. And rather than spend another $175 (out of warranty) on it, I'd rather gut it and see if I can fix it myself.

When I took it in to be tested, it wouldn't put out a reading. So the guy took the test lead off the insulated Stator bolt on the back, and the connected it to the Ground on the back and it put out 14.something volts, no problems.

So I'm figuring that instead of blowing a diode, the damn thing is wired 180 degrees off. Sound like I'm right before I go in there with a solder gun?

Below is a picture and the numbers I got off it, on the diode tests I had the meter on ->+ and I'd get a reading, then switch the multimeter leads. On the Ohms test I did the same thing.



Now the real question is, should I just leave it as is and hook the voltage regulator lead up to the Ground instead of the Stator connection and save some grief? :dunno:

[Recklessrob]

Back in the day, we used to see a high failure rate with the voltage regulators.
I remember seeing some that looked the same that were wired different for different applications. To add confusion to this, they'd plug in as well.
Did the alternator work for the 5 hours, or did it never work ?

[87natty]

Never really worked. The one I got before failed too, exchanged it for this one. Ever since I replaced the original the ALT light has been on. I'm not getting shit for juice right now off the big red BAT terminal. The regulator is new, and the wiring seems to be tight. What kind of voltages should I be getting to the regulator wires?

[Recklessrob]

I'll look into it when I get a chance. My boss is on vacation this week, so I have to do both of our jobs...