1994 Volvo 850 Repair Question
Topics covered: Battery, Battery light, Alternator.
Mileage: 175,000 miles.
Mileage: 175,000 miles.
Asked on December 21, 2012
Volvo 850 Battery Problem
Have a charging system problem. Battery drained, then replaced. 4 days later, drained new battery. Replaced alternator(bad regulator), and charged battery. Autozone checked, all systems checked out. Two weeks later, noticed faint battery light indicator on. Turned lights on, battery light got brighter. The car also quits running very sporadic. Never would quit running for my mechanic. Any thoughts
Asked by (pending member)Answer
Replied on December 22, 2012
Suspect a bad diode in the generator. When one of the six is defective, you will only get exactly one third of the generator's rated output current and that's not enough to run the entire electrical system. A load-test will show the low output, and "ripple" will be very high.