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I am still struggling with the charging/starting of my vehicle and have decided to replace the regulator or entire alternator. I ordered a new regulator from MB and then removed my alternator, only to discover that the alternator is the incorrect one (its a 120A and not the 180A and it appears it may be from a W124 series vehicle). It also appears that it has been worked on before and put together very badly.
I then ordered a new alternator from a MB supplier. While trying to install this new alternator I realised that the connector is different, it is however the same as the connector on the regulator that I bought from MB. I checked the plug and opened the wiring harness to check if it had been replaced at same stage to fit the incorrect alternator, however it seems that the plug on the car is part of the original harness.
We are all a little confused as to why the car appears to have a plug that doesn't fit. Secondly, the plug has 2 connectors and 2 wires (as does the old incorrect alternator) and the new alternator only has 1 connection pin in it.
Does anyone have any ideas what is going on here. I've included photos for reference.
Is there a difference between the two wire connector and the single wire connector electrically?
Would you change the alternator or the wiring harness?
New alternator New alternator connector Plug on vehicle with 2 wires. note the keyways are opposite to the new alternator keyways. Old alternator (Wrong one) Old alternator connector
It appears that the car had the wrong alternator in it and that it MAY have been plugged into the incorrect plug! While re-assembling the car, I found the correct plug, with the correct configuration for the correct alternator. The plug in question was actually for (what appears to be) a water solenoid on that side of the engine! As a side note, the Glow plug light no longer lights up constantly as it has done since I got the car, and it appears that issue was related and is now solved too!
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Alternator replacement
