The saga continues. As you may know, I have a 1967 122S on which I installed a 55 AMP Bosch Alternator from a 1975 245 (same alternator as on the 145 Series). I followed the instructions for the upgrade provided by IPD.

The upgrade was successful, but my amp light continued to glow on and off. Still, It seemed fine, but a couple of weeks ago, my battery suddenly went dead.

I figured that it was either the heavily worn brushes in the alternator or the used Paris-Rhone 145 Series VR that I got on eBay. So I bit the bullet and ordered an OEM Volvo replacement brush set and a Bosch Voltage regulator. The Brushes finally arrived today. I installed them, switched to the new VR and jumped hte car. All seemed fine. The Amp light still flickered somewhat, but the aftermarket charging indicator was green, so I figured it was good. I let her run for about 15 minutes, then took it on a little jaunt. I got about 5 blocks away when the engine began to misfire and run poorly. I turned around and brought it home, and it died as I tried to slip it into the carport. The battery was still dead.

Now, I know for a fact that this is not an SEV alternator, and the brand new 3-prong bosch voltage regulator is the correct one. Unless I'm overlooking something, the only possible culprits now are a wiring mistake (checked, but I'll check it again, possibly bad wires) or some other component of the alternator has gone bad (diode?).

So here are my questions:
Using a multimeter, how do I test the alternator for power output?
Recall that I'm not electrical engineer, so I need to know where to test and what I should be testing for (output). The nearest autoparts place says that they don't know how to test my alternator (specs are not in the system)

What gauge wiring should I be using for the leads to the Voltage Regulator?

Can someone who had successfully upgraded to a Bosch 55 amp (w/o integral vr) please describe their wiring in detail?


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1967 P220 Amazon, 1972 145S, 1976 245 DL, 1983 245 GL, 1986 745 GLE, 1990 745 GL, 1995 945....
You mean to tell me that Volvo makes cars that are *NOT* Wagons?!?