clumzyfly

I have a 94 country

a few weeks ago, I noticed that my alternator would not kick in right away after starting early in the morning, but worked right away every other time. I thought maybe it had something to do with the cold temps we started getting. Now we have colder temps all day and it does it nearly everytime, but not every time. Yesterday, I drove it the 17 miles to work and it never kicked in. I had to shut the lights of to keep from killing the engine from battery drain. It was light enough to see but really should have had lights on, but I drove on anyway(only 2 miles left on a 4 lane highway) Right in front of work, it finally died. I went inside and got a battery pack and hooked it up and began to drive it to a place to charge the battery. after a few hundred feet, the alt kicked on. I parked it and charged the batter for the next several hours. When I was done at work I started it and drove it for about 3 miles before the alt kicked on. This morning it was about 1 mile before it came on, on the way to work. On the way home it took almost 4 miles. Once it's on, it hasn't stopped. What the heck could this be? Tomorrow I will be trying the ground first, along with checking other wires. Is there anything else it could be? Could thing be the alt itself?

mentalbreakdown00

Could be a bad connection at any wire, or quite possibly the regulator in the alt

tjwalker

Freshen alternator connections.

Freshen engine grounds.

Still happening? Replace alternator.

clumzyfly

I have been looking around online to see what an alt would cost and found those. Do these have a voltage regulator? I cannot find any anywhere. This is the first post 70s vehicle I've worked on.

mentalbreakdown00

regulator is internal, you can replace it, but usually "at least around here" cost 1/2 to 3/4 of a rebuilt alt

tjwalker

The voltage regulator on 91 and newer is inside of the computer, not part of the alternator.

It can fail, but generally the voltage regulator circuit is pretty hardy; the alternator fails way more frequently.

mentalbreakdown00

I stand corrected, it is in the ECM on jeeps, Just looked at the diagram. That means double check all your wires with a DMM, but is probably the ALT.

clumzyfly

I cleaned all connections on the alt and the battery terminals and the two grounds on the block by the oil filter and so far, so good. It also used to run just under 14 volts and now it is running just over the 14 volt line.