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First time poster, as I haven’t had to with a huge thanks to ETCG and his awesome videos.
I have a 2003 Acura RSX base premium with auto/sport shift, with roughly 140,000 K on it.
I’ve had a stereo in it for a few years now with no problem, but can tell it’s a bit much sometimes for the small 90 amp alt in it and is wearing thin, most likely being original. It’s worse in winter with defrost, seat warmers, heater full blast etc, and with all of these electronics I wonder why they didn’t just up the amperage on the factory alternators? I just want to get a jump on this before I replace it and not have to worry about this down the road.My question in when I go to replace it, can I install another regulator, or just bypass the regulator built into it? Wouldn’t the RPM’s sort of “regulate” what the alt puts out, or is the regulator what changes ac to dc? What will that cause, as most other vehicles either don’t have one on the alt, or it’s somewhere else. Can an alt shop install one that regulates a higher amperage alt? No sense in getting a higher output alt if the regulator puts out 90 amps. I would like to put in a higher amp alt, especially at idle and any help or info would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work!
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your car has to have a regulator. you cant run without one. the electrical system will go crazy and you could fry the computer. if you plan on replacing the alternator, you can buy aftermarket ones with higher amp ratings. the new alternator will come with a regulator built in with the same amp rating.
Ya I kinda figured, but I thought it just regulates voltage. Also any recommendations? Will the alt shop have these? Can you install it right on the output cable?
it does mostly regulate voltage. without out it, the voltage wont be stable and will cause problems. as for recommendations, pretty much anything that is not rebuilt does OK from my experience. any shop will be able to get new alternators for what ever type you need. and the voltage regulator doesnt need to be installed separately, its built onto the back of the alternator.
You want to look for a higher capacity alternator overall. Back in the day they use to change pulley size to change at different speed.
You don’t want to spend any effort to replace only 1 component inside the alternator as every piece need to be upgraded to compensate for more current being produce. Only changing the winding will be the same thing as replacing the pulley, (only to name few part as the rectifier would need to be of a higher grade to handle more current)
Aftermarket offer now different output, you just need to know how much more gain you need see if it is available.
Well, talking about and I bet you can guess what happened. Drove around today and came out, car was dead. No light on key turn, then with key out, car made some weird noises that I’ve never hear, then both temp and gas gauges shoot up to the max. Had someone bring another battery,started fine, twice. It’s at 14.4 volts, 12.6 when off. What happened? Having weird issues, but alt seems fine…
You will have to test battery and alternator first. You may have a battery with a dead cell or just worn battery. A battery act like a cushion its fully operational… no spike change in voltage as it has lots of capacity. and with a good functioning alternator everything should be smooth.
With a poor battery, it put lots of stress on the alternator if you use lots of amperage. You might notice your headlight fluctuating in power at different RPM as RPM define your available alternator output.
Being said you can have a weak battery and/or weak alternator (burnt diode), if you did not purchased the battery yet , have a battery load test on the battery, if it fail, replace and carry on next the alternator test.
If both actually pass test as it would be strange then you may want to consider the possibility of a battery drain for this particular scenario (the battery dead after running it)
I will think you will have a good battery not getting charge properly (so its loosing it’s charge as you drive it) or a weak battery that doesn’t keep charge, you need to rule out the battery first tho.
You could have issue with both but make sure the battery is not at fault. You may have wiring connection problem, but let’s talk about it after those preliminary testThanks for the info kgevil, and everyone else of course.
Ya that’s the conclusion we came to while testing everything yesterday, to have the batteries fully tested somewhere (i have 2 kinetic 1400s). I used to have both in there, to help with the stereo, but took one out months ago as I thought that might be the problem. I’ve had them for over 2 years now and no problems until this Christmas. So that’s why I thought the alt must finely be dieing, which I still think as it’s got 140+ k on it.I was actually going to suggest checking the battery but it appears the car beat me to it. The electrical system in your vehicle begins and ends at the battery. If you have a bad or weak battery, everything else suffers. So anytime you have an electrical issue, check the battery first. That said, don’t replace the regulator. If you want to upgrade, get a higher amp alternator. OR you might consider an under drive pulley. This is a small pulley that bolts to the existing alternator to make it spin faster. However, if your battery solved the problem, I would leave well enough alone.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-electrical-problems
Good luck and thanks for the updates.
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