first off i know im in the wrong club to be talking about a 86 Parisienne but every other site ive been on no one could help ....so here i am .

1986 Pontiac Parisienne Brougham 305

i bought the car a few weeks ago and it was working great up until last week when my Volt gauge jumped from around 13v to 18v and stayed there while driving .i started smoking and popped the hood to find my alternator smoking . i was forced to drive home with it like that and on the way back noticed the voltage would drop shortly if i let off the gas/put high beams on/screwed around with my electric seats etc... the alternator looks fairly new so im unsure if thats the problem. any input would be much appreciated. thanks

**side note** when i got the car the radio was out and ready for a cd player ...i installed one and it worked well but i found my battery was getting drained when the car was off so took it out....also someone had installed a 20amp fuse instead of the original 10amp fuse for the radio spot in the fuse panel. could this cause problems similar to what im having

thanks again !

 

An alternator's an alternator I guess - sounds like the regulator's died or on the way out. Is it replaceable - if it is, should be a little plastic box bolted into the back of the alt.

Either that or just replace the whole alt. Either way, fix it before you explode your battery.

Radio will have nothing to do with your overvoltage problem.