Car was running great, no issues, just went to the store, started the car up and all the dash "warning" lights stayed on with the car running...... low fuel, low washer fluid, water temp warning etc........as I drove home the lights dimmed and finally engine died and wouldn't start, got home and tested the battery, less then 11V.........

Alternator, bad battery or....??????????

 

Alternator is bad. You can pull the regulator and brushes out from the back. Here's my thread from a similar issue. When the alternator goes out, you can run on the battery for a short time but once the battery runs out of juice, lights will dim and the car will just sputter out and die. Chances are, if the battery is more than a couple years old, it may not recover well from being drained so much. It's a couple screws to replace the whole charging assembly in the alternator, rarely do the coils go bad. One bolt on the bottom of the intake manifold will get the dipstick tube out of the way. For ease of mind and wallet, here is the part.

 

Bad alternator or cable.

 

Thank you gentlemen, I appreciate it. I am having the battery load tested in the morning and if that checks out will remove the brushes etc and replace........

I will make sure to update progress.

 

So the brushes/regulator/diode packs can be removed without removing the alt?

 

the regulator and brushes can be. not diodes

 

Absolutely. Three small phillips screws in the cover and two larger phillips screws in the assembly. Slides right out.

 

You are correct about the diodes. Regardless, bad diodes would kill the battery but the car would still run on the alternator. I can't count how many cars I've tested alternators on many cars with bad diodes that were still running.

 

Wow! Good information to know.

 

OK, this is crazy....... if anybody can access the back of the alternator to remove the three Phillips screws to remove the regulator and brushes with the power steering lines, radiator hose and air compressor lines, dip stick etc in the way......... you are a better man then I......

If all these items need to be removed before removing the back cover of the alternator then it seems just as easy to remove the alternator and fix it on the bench?

Am I missing something here or just missing working on my AMC Pacer...?

 

If you have large hands, the dipstick may need to be removed but I changed mine with 2 small handled phillips screwdrivers, a #1 and #2 I believe. If you want to take the intake off, it'll double the work time and requires the gasket, but it's doable. It's a game of feel but you can see the screws with your arm out of the way. I swapped my reg in the parking lot of my local DIY jy in under 30 minutes with a single wrench and the two screwdrivers. Pulling the whole alternator means pulling the power steering pump entirely which is a fun job all on its own. That's why Volvo used the removable regulator assembly in these cars. The thought of having to change the whole alternator probably gave the engineers nightmares. If you can't get an arm in there, the manifold is actually fairly simple to remove and it'll open that space up for you to work. Volvo probably even recommends removing the mani, but I just don't like removing things if I can avoid it.

 

Like Chrispy_T said. Ive done it but it is hard. Im a fairly big guy with big hands and was able to do it, just gotta be willing to fight with it a bit. but definitely remove the dipstick

 

Thanks again for all the info......... does anybody have the actual part number for the regulator brush holder kit?

The link to the Ebay part Chrispy_T posted shows the cross reference numbers for the alternators it fits but not the actual part number.....

 

Volvo 850 Alternator Parts | FCP Euro

there are two different types

 

Chances are, it's the Bosch alternator and uses the one I link. The other type goes in the alternator that has the decoupler pulley. The pulley has a black cap on the end and you can tell right away. Plus it doesn't have the three screws in the back. These were not very common on 850s

 

So I ended up removing the power steering pump and alt.

Took the alt apart and the voltage regulator/brush holder was in sad shape, interesting thing is that it is not stock, it is a Regitar VR-B229



Not a bad thing though, the Bosch replacement or similar is damn near the price I can get a complete alt for..........the Regitar is about $50.....

PS. I am sure with a few curse words it is possible to remove and replace the regulator without removing the alt but I suggest that anybody who has to replace the regulator to just spend the extra time to remove the power steering pump and then alt, in the long run it is MUCH easier............ Plus you get to inspect areas you would never get to otherwise....

 

Just an update, personally, I hate when a thread is started and there is basically no end results posted......

I tried to remove the voltage regulator from the alt without removing it from the vehicle but found it too awkward so I removed the power steering pump etc and pulled the alt. Got the voltage regulator out and found a replacement for about $50 instead of $200+ that most places wanted for the Bosch unit....

For anybody needing to replace a voltage regulator who doesn't want to spend big bucks, I found two suitable units, yes they are "offshore" stuff but I took the chance, one is the Regitar VR-B229 and the other is the Transpo IB520 both are under $50.......

(First pic), all this, (second pic) just for this........

After about four hours wrenching all the dash lights are out, no codes and alt is charging like a champ........