Good Evening Gentleman,

I’m at my wits end with this after chasing it for two years. Ever since my motorcraft alternator died I’ve been plagued with these issues.

last year I went through three alternators from car quest, all voltage regulator issues

things I’ve checked:
- Battery: New and OK
- Terminals: Decent Shape
- Cables: OEM, original

What am I missing here? I put a new alternator in today, in three miles the battery light was on with presumably a blown regulator

checked connections and everything else is good

This is a Napa gold 105 amp unit. Fun fact, their 130 amps in the system are incorrect and don’t fit (I tried)

At this stage I’ve owned the car for 17 years and this is really killing me because I can’t trust it at all.

is anyone else going through this?

 

I had a similar issue with my 2000 Mustang GT. I kept going through alternators, and it was driving me crazy. Some would last a few months, while others would only last a few days.

My problem was the alternator plug wires were damaged. I found the damaged wires inside the split tubing wire loom. I'm not sure how the wires got damaged inside the wire loom, but about 1/4" to 1/2" of bare wire was exposed on both wires.

I replaced the alternator plug a few times, but the problem kept happening. I finally decided to open up the wire loom and investigate. Sure enough, I found the bare wires touching each other. (I can't recall exactly how far back I had to strip the wire loom before I found the damaged wires​​​​​​​) I had never thought to look inside the wire loom before, because I assumed the wires were wrapped up and no way could there be an issue with the wiring inside the wire loom.

I'm not sure what caused the wires to get damaged inside the wire loom. Maybe the weather going from hot to cold/cold to hot caused the wires to expand and contract?

I found this image online to illustrate the wire loom where I found the damaged wires.