OK, so more voltage Q's...

[DavidT]

me AGAIN
Just yesterday my voltage gauge read ~15V just after startup... is this an omen to my 6 month old alternator?
(about 15 miles later, w/ heat ON and lights ON, it dropped down to ~14V)
Ever since the mishap when a vac. hose lodged the throttle linkage in WOT and I had the ride of my life , the volts gauge reads 14.5+volts at startup... never was that high before)
Also, I still have the battery in the trunk.

 

[Ian Macoomb]

15 volts?? Yeah, that's a little high. Is that a digital gauge?

 

[DavidT]

no, its not digital... but the needle is about .5+ volts higher than it usually is. Last time I double checked the accuracy with a voltmeter, the A pillar gauge read about .3 LOW

 

[SHOZ123]

The SHO regulator is at most calibrated to 14.6V. It should reach that level immediately after starting then gradually come down to whatever level the battery will demand based on temperature and internal conditions.

If it was reading 15V truly then the regulator is on the way out. I had one that read 17V.

 

[JSIL1]

is there away to increase the voltage output at idle?

 

[SHOZ123]

You could change pulleys but may be exceeding safe alternator speeds at 7000 rpm.

One of the problems I've heard of with rebuilds is the wrong pulley. The SHO has some what of an under drive pulley on the alternator compared to say the 3.0L Duratec.

That being said if you seldom play in the upper extreme rpms you could put a 3.0L Duratec pulley on to increase the alternator rotational speed at idle.

When looking the SHO regulator type up on the Motorcraft parts sight they have the wrong regulator listed. Another reason so many rebuilds are trash I would guess. Still there are different regulators that offer different voltages. Usually in 0.1V incremental differences. But 14.6V is the highest I've seen.

If the regulator/brushes are worn the voltage they can produce is reduced too. Pretty easy job to change them out. Motorcraft GR-815 is the SHO regulator. You can get it at Rock Auto.

 

[JSIL1]

hmmmm...now that I think of it that (new alternator) might be about the time I started having battery issues. My amp flashes different colors to let me know what is wrong, and when I have the radio on at a stop light it flashes yellow and kills the output, once I rev it, it goes away.

seeing as though the highest it ever gets for me is 6500is. I might have to take a look into the pulley swap.

There isn't any stronger alternator that can be swapped, is there?

 

[SHOZ123]

If you sniff around http://www.wai-wetherill.com you can see some of the parts for all the ford alternators. The Gen 3 uses a 4G series but the mounting case is what limits the applications.

Look under "electrical systems" and search under Ford Alternators 4G. The various pulley sizes listed are 52mm, 53 mm, 57mm, 59mm, 64mm, and 74mm. They are all listed as OD pulleys. I don't know what size the SHO uses as OE.