This is a follow up to a post I made a few days ago about charging system issues.

I took the alternator in to an auto electric shop and had the brushes slip ring and voltage regulator replaced. The tech tested on the bench for 5 minutes and it was putting out strong 14+ volts.

I installed the alternator in the car: ground strap, charging cable and exciter wire and it is not putting out any voltage. All I am getting at the back of the alternator is battery voltage which at this point is 11.6 volts.

I have tested the exciter circuit by grounding the small red wire and all of the dash / idiot lights come on, but when the exciter wire is connected to the alternator I only get the check engine and oil light.

As I understand the FAQ it seems there should be a path from the D+ terminal to brushes to slip ring, to alternator chassis to ground, but it doesn't seem like its behaving this way.

I have also tried running a wire directly from the + battery terminal to the D+ terminal on the alternator and it still doesn't seem to want to charge.

Have I tested the exciter circuit properly?
Is there still something wrong with the alternator?

oh by the way its zero degrees F out.

Frustrated! Not sure what my next step is. New alternator?

thanks!!!

Matt

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'90 245 281k, '93 945 292k