Hi Nate,

When I originally bought my car from it's PO, the alternator/voltage regulator never quite worked. In other words, I couldn't use the windshield wipers, headlights, and the radio all at once. Also, the alternator didn't charge the battery, so I found everytime I drived at night this resulted in a dead battery. Very frustrating. After buying a new voltage regulator (same as the once that was installed), thinking mine was defective, and suffering through the same scenario, I decided to take my car in.

I very good mechanic in Portland (the Swede) looked at my setup and said: this alternator is like a toy--and no, that wasn't a compliment. He meant, it was a very cheap alternator. Furthermore, he said, it was never designed to work with the voltage regulator somebody put in there.

He took both the alternator and voltage regulator out and put in a Bosch ($159) alternator with internal regulator, stating simply that this setup would be "foolproof." It worked.