Bigdad

Zags
Looks like the one that I have. That is a good thing.
I Googled the part number and the word in English Transpo M526 M530 is there. Looks like the Russians think the two regulators are interchangeable, which there not. Go a head and buy that one on e-bay M530.
The M526 has 14.8 volt set point. The M530 has a 14.5 volt set point.
The pcm on the 97 to 01 likes the lower volt set point on the M530.

Bigdad

Mickeyrx70

Zags

Well, the regulator did the trick. It came in Saturday and I've been driving without issues since. Wanted to give it a while to be sure, and it looks like its good.

The quality difference in the regulators was huge even at a quick glance. The brushes on the Valeo/Transpo M530 were twice as thick, and had no play in the brush holders. Everything electronic was potted and weatherproofed.

Super happy to have everything working again. Thanks for everyone's help. If you have any questions about it let me know...

Bill Curlee

Can you post up some after the repair Autopsy pictures of the old regulator. May some of the guts of the thing??

BC

GCG

I'm glad everything is working fine now!

I join my voice to Bill's in asking for pictures to further document this. This is good info and gives us options to solve alternator problems, while avoiding system faults. The fact that's around 30 bucks doesn't hurt either!

Just to have more feedback, did you buy the regulator using the link I gave you, or you found another source? If from another source, could you provide a link? Thanks!

Zags

This is the seller I bought the voltage regulator from. http://www.ebay.com/itm/290953992655?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Well I hate to say it, but it was a false alarm... Worked fine for 3 days, now I'm getting charge system fault messages every couple of minutes. It starts charging as soon as I start the car, so the issue of having to rev the motor is gone. But I get very frequent messages while driving now. I'm going to have someone help me try to diagnose things this weekend.

In the meantime, I've been looking on eBay and found a couple of used original alternators, not remanufactured, for ~$100. Considering picking one of those up...

lionelhutz

Which code was set? The charge fault message appearing while it's running means the L circuit voltage went low (down close to 0V) or PWM on the F circuit is under 5%.

Do you have access to tuning software? Just turn the L and F terminal monitoring off in the system settings and you should never get another message about it. You'd have to use voltage to know if the alternator is working or not.

CactusCat

Post those codes.

NealB

Don't know if this would interest you

No affiliation, just saw it and remembered this post

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/pts/5423533468.html

Zags

Well, I'm still around. I've been driving the car for the last 5 days with a salvage yard alternator off of a '98. Decided to give it plenty of time and miles for issues to show up before claiming success. But you know what? It's been perfect. Not a single issue. I've also learned that the dash can't be trusted at all. My DIC and gauge read between 1-3v low all the time. Volt meter confirms it's working though. 14.25v rock steady.

The salvage yard alternator is a little ugly, broken plastic and nasty grunge all over it. I'll have to clean it and replace the back. Can't stand having something that dirty in my engine bay

$105 shipped with a 3 month warranty. Hard to beat that. Wish I had started off that way and not wasted a pile of money in the process. I've still got the voltage regulator and AutoZone alternator sitting around. Not sure what I'm going to do with them...

Robert Perkins

The lower voltage on the DIC can be caused by a bad ignition switch. There are many post about the switch and how to clean the contacts.

IRON MAIDEN

Sorry to revive an old thread. But it looks like the right peeps are here to maybe answer this question. I have a 97' with 80K miles. Alt is fine as far as I know as I don't have starting/charging issues. Issue I have always had since I have bought the car with 27K on it...... With the car running, lights on. Now and then I can hear and see the lights dim for a second. It's not just with the lights on. When my California car is cold and warming up, you can hear the smog air pump running. Well, when it seems to have a voltage drop like I see with the lights, well I hear it in the smog pump noise. So it does it in all conditions I guess. Doesn't really effect anything other than the odd light dimming. My real question is about the alt though. I have a big audio system going in. I had planned on a high output alt for the car and maybe a second battery near the amps. Have also had someone in an audio group tell me high output alts don't work on C5's as they are regulated at 13.8V. Just want to clear up the confusion. The audio system will have 3 old school Fosgate amps with a combined (real world) power rating of roughly 2000w. With the voltage drop issue I already have, want to find a solution to beef up my electrical to be able to run my system properly.

sirdano

You might do a search as I do remember a thread that someone installed a higher amp alternator in and got it to work.