When my radiator blew, anti-freeze blew everywhere, including my fuse panel and even all the way to my alternator.

What I didn't know, is that my key was on acc. for the past week and drained my battery dead! So I jumped it and moved it to the garage (about 10 feet away) and my battery light stayed on the whole time...

I took my radiator out while the battery charger was on 10 amps. After I took the rad. out, I turned the charger to 60-amp jump and started the car. With the charger still at JUMP, I ran the car for a second, just to see if the battery light would turn off. I revved up to 3500 and it started to misfire and not run past that.

I shut it off and went to the front of the car, where I noticed the fimiliar smell of burning electrical.I quickly disconnected the charger and figured out where the smell was coming from;my alternator.

I tried to start the car again and the battery was dead. I checked the terminals and tried again. Nothing. So I put the charger on it again and it startedfine again, so I pulled the charger off and went back inside to check my lights and heater and such, and I noticed my battery light was on yet again.

Here is the twist:
When I turn my lights AND heater on, the battery light turns off. When I turn them back off, the battery light turns on again!

Did I blow an internal regulator??
I lost my DMM a while ago, so I can't check the voltage.

 

It sounds like your alternator is overcharging the system and when you turn a few things off it creates enough of an additional draw that it doesn't register an issue.... without a voltmeter it's going to be nearly impossible to diagnose an electrical issue.

 

If the problem is an internal voltage regulator, could I replace it with an external regulator?? I really don't want to take half the engine downto replace this alternator.