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Originally Posted by FTD
How much over 14.0 = suspect a problem? 14.2?
And how does an overage indicate alternator weakness?
Thanks!
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There are a lot of variables at play, idle speed, belt tension/slippage, variances in each individual alternator, battery, and 'load' component.
Plus the alternator does degrade with time, while still having many useful miles left in it. So I wouldn't worry about a couple tenths.
But a wide variance, maybe 0.5 - 1.0 or more volts would concern me.
An large overage is a problem because the alternator alone, without the voltage regulator (diode pack), is capable of producing upwards of 40 volts which would fry the important circuitry in the DME, alarm, radio and other stuff, maybe even cause a fire.