My Alternator works fine and the gauge shows a charging condition when I start the car and drive. After the alt. gets hot , it starts to go to a "non-charge" condition, as seen on the volt gauge (usually right at 13 volts or less). Maybe this coincides with the engine temp. (around town driving or many short trips) which keeps the temp near 220*. Would a repair kit such as the "iceberg" kit correct this?

 

The engine temp of 220 shouldn't bother your alternator normally. Make sure that your belt, and your belt tensioner are ok. Also check your connections, are they tight, cracked, corroded, and finally, if the wiring is ok, LOAD test the alternator, places like Advance, or O'reilleys, don't load test. Without a proper load test, with all of your assecorries on, you won't know if the alternator is pumping out enough amps to run everything.

 

actually, thats normal. everyones car charges at 14.4+ when cold than it slowly drops down when things warm up.

 

Couple of things cause this with the CS gens. First, if you have a burnt diode junction(common with the delco diode packs) the gen will charge hard until the regulator IC gets hot, then it basically turns off the gen to protect the IC. The IC will shut off around 275 deg. Second common thing is where the diode pack attaches to the stator leads the solder can get so hot it melts and you lose a phase resulting in the same thing. A load test should show low charging current. An "iceberg" kit contains all the parts to fix the gen and instructions on how to do it. I have rebuilt a few using the kit without any problems, however I prefer the AC Delco replacements when overhauling one. Many of the components for rebuilding are offshore devices of questionable quality. You should always be around 13.4-14 volts unless all the accessories are on and it's at idle.