Quote: Place a volt meter across your Alt, disconnect the battery and see for yourself what the voltage jumps to. Often times it will exceed 400 volts. In automotive electrical school (MOPAR) This was the first thing taught to us dealer weanies. DO NOT UNHOOK A BATTERY WHILE THE ENGINE IS RUNNING! I'm glad to hear you have never had a problem. A better way to see if the Alt is working would be to place a screw driver against the rear center, if it sticks the unit is at least somewhat working.
There ya go, its the FIRST THING a technician should know!!
the screwdriver on the rear bearing is a good way to tell if your regulator is working, because it picks up the magnetic field from the rotor. If the field is energized it will be magnet. The alternator may still not work though, especially if some back yarder was previously diagnosing it by disconnecting the battery. Bye bye rectifier! This can be confirmed by performing a ripple pattern test on the diodes.
There ya go, its the FIRST THING a technician should know!!
