This is sort of long but here goes.

Last Feb the alternator on my 190E 2.6 seized. There were no electrical problems at the time. I replaced it with a rebuilt alternator and proceeded to drive the car. The next day the car died due to no electrics. The headlights dimmed, wipers were slow, etc. When I checked the output of the rebuilt alternator it wasn't charging. I hadn't checked it after installing it. I cursed that I had gotten a bad "new" alternator.

I returned it for another and installed it. Checked it this time and all OK. With car running it showed 13.8 or so volts across the battery.

Fast forward to Aug. I'm driving my car and the same thing happens. Car dies. Get it home and see the alternator isn't charging. With the key off the battery shows 12.2 volts. Start the car and I get 11.2 volts across the battery.

When this happened both times I never got the red discharge light on the dash, so no warning that the battery was being drained.

Is this just a case of the alternator going bad (a poor rebuild) or symptomatic of something else being wrong?

Pete

IF you ask me, it's a symptom of green battery cable wire. The copper corrodes, and resistance increases. This increased resistance forces the alternator to produce higher voltage and over-heating the shoddy built replacement alternator.

__________________
Closing the store
Benzbonz.biz on your smart phone or tablet.

I will check that. Might be more of an issue with the ground side. The connections at the battery are clean and corrosion free.

Pete