[s-cars] Alternator Musings

[Brian Powell]

Well, in this ridiculous heat he have had in Colorado for the last 2
weeks (fortunately, I leave for an ice breaker to the Weddell Sea of
Antarctica on Sat.) I have noticed that when running the AC, the
system voltage drops to ~12.5V (based on the analog gauge). Normally,
it is at the 14V hash mark on the gauge, but sometimes with the AC
running it will get down to as low as what seems to be about 12.5V.
The hotter it is, the lower it goes.

Should I replace the brushes and voltage regulator? This is a 97 S6
with 75k miles. Seems pretty early for an alternator to act weak (my
90q20v with nearly 200k miles never had an alternator issue).

Any writeups on this? Where is the best place to source these parts? I
won't deal with it until I return from the southern ocean in Oct, but
it is something I'll need to take care of.

Cheers,
Brian