Hello,

Recently my 2001 ford f150 5.4l started displaying the red battery indicator. So I looked it up and found it that is saying the charging system is not working properly but it gas been going randomly on and off for the past week now. So I used my multimeter and when the indicator light is off with the truck running it's getting 13.40 amps when the light came on and I tested, it's only getting 10.5-11 amps. My question is my alternator bad or is there a voltage regulator or something else I could check?

 

9 times out of 10 it's the alternator. It's an easy swap.

 

I know shouldn't be to hard but it's $160 for the alternator I just want to be sure . Also is the alternator the 95 amp one?

 

Anyone ?

 

Battery light indicates an alternator problem, the regulator is part of the alt. I had my alternator rebuilt at an alternator and starter shop cheaper than I could have bought one.

 

I'll bet that was volts instead of amps. Volts when working right will be over 14 Vdc.

 

I got the 140 when I got mine. Mine averages 14.6 at idle

 

So the battery is less than 2 months old and replaced the alternator a little over a week ago... last night I was driving home and the lights shot down to dim a lot and the voltage gauge was lower. Then this morning I started it and the battery light was on and voltage was low so I left for work and boom it kicked In good voltage and bright lights and as I was pulling into work they shot back down to dim? What could cause this ?

 

Check post 5 above.

 

Post #5 has nothing to do with what I am asking ?