Whats the voltage supposed to be at idle? v.Alternator

[ChronoGN]

I already had my alternator go completely out on me last year and it was such an pain in the *** because I had to push my car all the way to the dealership. Now, it seems like the alternator might be going out again. Sometimes the voltage just drops down out of nowhere. So, I was wondering whats the voltage supposed to be at idle? I remember that the last time the alternator went out, the voltage was lower at idle than its supposed to be. I just cant remember what the idle voltage were.

[mwh27]

Should be around 14v. You could pull it and get it bench tested at pepboys for free.

[ChronoGN]

Originally posted by mwh27:
Should be around 14v. You could pull it and get it bench tested at pepboys for free.

Nah, we dont have any pepboys around here and even if we did, this is my only car so I can't really take it off and take it anywhere.

[Dojo2000]

I'm pretty sure that Advance Auto or Autozone would be able to test it for you.

I've never heard of taking off an alternator to test it. That wouldn't make any sense unless they had some kind of motor/pulley/belt system and mount to put the alt on and run it.

[mwh27]

Originally posted by Dojo2000:
I'm pretty sure that Advance Auto or Autozone would be able to test it for you.

I've never heard of taking off an alternator to test it. That wouldn't make any sense unless they had some kind of motor/pulley/belt system and mount to put the alt on and run it.

A.K.A bench testing.