OK, KING'S X....WHERE IS THE VR ON MY 1976 EURO 308? AN EARLY CAR, VETRORESINA WITH AC. IS THERE A PART NUMBER OR PARTICULAR BRAND I SHOULD TRACK DOWN? THANX steve
It is supposed to have a Bosch 55 amp alternator. The regulator can be replaced without removing the alternator. I'd get it out and get a Bosch number off of it. Should not be hard to find.
is it eaiest with the car on a lift? can you get it on a 4 post or will the lift ramps be in the way? thanx. s
Brian, thanks again for your good help... much appreciated. On my 308, there's a rectangular heatshield that was blocking my ability to get to that circular heat shield in front of the voltage regulator. The knowledge that there were four mounting bolts was very helpful, so I appreciate your assistance. Hope to button her up tomorrow. thanks again. Steve
Steve, as Brian mentioned it's a Bosch 55A alternator for the early 308. It is listed by Bosch as p/n 0 120 489 541. According to the exploded parts diagram of that alternator the regulator should be 1 197 311 090. If you only need to replace the carbon brushes on the regulator the p/n shows: 1 127 014 021. Good luck with it.
At this point, it is necessary for me to recount exactly how I got here... I've gone through three brand new batteries, all AGM batteries from O'Reilly, in one year's time (almost to the day.) Knowing that this couldn't possibly be right, unless all three batteries were defective, I measured the voltage of the third new battery and, as predicted , it measured 13.4 V. However, with the engine running at about 2000 RPMs, the voltage now read about 16 or 17 V which indicated to me that the other batteries had probably been cooked, and this third one was on the same road. At that point, I also made the assumption that it had to be the voltage regulator. NOW @QV308 thanks so much for your input. I was concerned about using any part numbers referenced in the shop manual because original alternatosr are commonly swapped out for another. The part number of the voltage regulator that was on the car was IB – 355–1410 the electrical expert who sold me the new VR said what I received from him was exactly the same. But, it has a number of IB 355–2? 1? 2828?. Very hard to read the numbers as stamped on that damn regulator. It came from WAIGlobal.com, and it looked exactly the same. I spoke with the technician from WAI who said that what I was sold from the electrical expert was, in fact, a correct replacement for the one I had. This was a very difficult job and once installed, I checked, the results with my VOM and to my surprise and annoyance, I got the following: The battery in a static, (no pun intended) state, read, 13.4 V which is perfect. However, with the car running at about 2000 RPMs, the voltage actually dropped to 12.54! Did I make an initial error here in assuming that my problem had to be the voltage regulator? Perhaps the alternator is bad and /or both of them are bad. Clearly, I believe I need to take the alternator off and have it checked. I welcome any thoughts or comments. thanks again steve (so much for a career as a professional mechanic!)
Take it off the car, and take it to a Autoelectric specialist for a bench test. They will tell you what is wrong.
Yes, that's on the agenda. It looks like the right rear wheel and probably fender liner need to be removed to get to it correct?
Disconnect battery Right rear wheel Fender liner Belt (s) Tensioner bolt Mounting bolts Disconnect wires Work it out the whell well
A little follow up here. After putting in a second voltage regulator and getting abnormal results, meaning it was charging at 12.4 instead of 14 to 15, I threw my hands up and took the car to a highly respected shop here in Houston. I feel somewhat vindicated in that they found that the second voltage regulator was defective. A third one worked perfectly. So the diagnosis was correct.... the voltage regulator was the problem. I did not have to remove the alternator at all, although it's still a tricky job. But all's well that ends well ...a few bucks later. Thanks, Steve.
