[pktheory]

I have a 93 mercury cougar xr7 (3.8l v6) My issue is my voltage indicator is reading high at 18. My battery light indicator is on but im having no issues at the moment. I was just curious of why im getting this high voltage reading and battery indicator light and what i can do about it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Bad69cat]

probably a better answer on the new cougar forums - mostly 67-73 stuff here. I'd venture a guess that your alt is toast (the regulator inside it at least)...?

 

[fastmerc]

I would place the voltage regulator high on the list of suspects! Check your battery voltage while idling...if it is above about 14.6V you are killing your battery the more you drive the car. We just did this on our 68....17+V while running.....found a bad solid state regulator...and a battery that would only hold 10.3 volts at rest after charging on a charger and letting it sit overnight! If your voltage regulator is external to the alternator, replace it. If it is the internal style, then pull your alternator off and have a shop test it for you. If it is bad...they hand you a new one....OR you can sometimes replace the regulator on the alternator....all depends.

You don't have anything else wrong right now other than this....but if you ignore it....you will!