Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting belt tensioner pulley

Could this cause my battery light to come on? If it was bad where can you get the assembly oreiley had what they called the tensioner but its only the pulley.

I can think of one other possible thing. Is the voltage regulator part of a the alternator or separate? I have heard before that many places will replace the alternator but not the voltage regulator if the voltage regulator is still working. Its either that or you do have a belt that is slipping for some reason. The tensioner is also a possible culprit. Try turning off all your electrical loads like cruise control, A/C, headlights, radio, interior lights, etc. If this helps your alternator could also have one or two diodes that are bad which is till enabling it to charge a little. This is not likely though as the alternator has been replaced. Check to see if your voltage regulator was replaced. Hope this helps.

On the Contour the votlage reguator is incorperated into the altenator.

Another common casue of low altenator output is worn brushes, or as Jon mentioned one or more failed diodes the rectifier. Some places still sell altenator repair kits, (they include, brushes, brush holders, diode pack, regluator and some even come with shaft bearings) but most places don't becasue they'd rather sell you the entire unit.