Hi,

Driving to work today, I used my 12V volt meter plugged into the cigarette lighter to check system status. I put a 6A charger on the battery last night to bring it up to full SOC (Ive never had a starting issue), just for fun...

Running with fan on low, headlights and fogs on, radio on, my voltage is roughly 13.3V. Take loads off and it will go up to approximately 13.9V at best conditions unloaded and engine at speed.

Stop at a light and be idling, with these loads on, the voltage can drop down to 12.3V! Awful low. However, turn the blower off and the idle voltage will pop back up over 13V.

There are strip fuse retrofits for the blower fuse underhood because it will pull excessive draw. I had a near meltdown on that blower fuse in my old 83 300D. If the blower has an issue and is pulling 20A or some fairly high amount, it is fair to say that the alternator is at pretty close to max capacity. 20A takes away roughly half of the generating output as is.

So I have no proof behind this, but I think that the blower may be the cause of many folks' low voltage conditions.

I have a new 14.1V regulator, BTW, and dont see 14.1V...

__________________
Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)