Thread: 16 volts from the alternator????

Anybody ran into this issue before?
My car its been running 16 volts ever since I swapped the VE engine back in 2008. I thoug it was ok but now its getting annoying changing headlamps bulbs every 6 months or so. Also I notice my lc1 wideband gauge its stuck flashing 7.4 afrs???

Bad alternator. Should be regulated to 14.4 or so volts during charging only. If you see 16 volts, the voltage regulator is bad.

I've seen it before on a Civic. Cliff is on the money. Your battery won't like to be overcharged like that, and I'm surprised you're only blowing headlight bulbs. Get that thing replaced ASAP. Test it for free at a local parts store if you want to remove all doubt before ditching it.

Thats what I was thinking, bad regulator. You know what sucks about is I just swapped a W10 DET and while it was out I thought about changing it but I didn't.

The PITA is that for some reason with the bottom alternator bolt will not come all the way out because the j-pipe is in the way. That means I got to un bolt the turbo from the head, just to get the alternator out.

So I swapped the alternator for another one I had laying around and is still 16v of the battery with the car idling its 18v. Next I will go to autozone , but I suspect the battery is bad from much overcharging, it got used to it. Or maybe it could be my multimeter?? But i doubt it.

With the car off, and the battery reading 16VDC, you have a bad battery, or a bad multimeter. What kind of multimeter are you using? Are you touching from terminal to terminal, or from the positive terminal to a chassis ground?

Idling at 18VDC is bad juju. You can fry all sorts of components, including the ECU if you're not careful.

I'm closer to thinking it's your DMM though.

It's a actron from autozone, Im going to check my other vehicles to see what i get from the battery.

Yeah, do that.

There's only one brand of DMM that I'd trust, that being a Fluke.

Dant it! Its the multimeter, just check the other car it has 16v too.

When the battery in multimeter gets low and needs replacing it reads high like that.