R-Class (W251) Produced 2006-2013: R320CDI, R350, R420CDI, R500

Alternator problem. When the engine is cold voltage output 12.9-13.1V

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Old May 22, 2018 | 05:12 PM
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virgisr's Avatar
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Mercedes R320L CDI 4MATIC 2007
Alternator problem. When the engine is cold voltage output 12.9-13.1V

Hi everyone,

i need some advice regarding the alternator. (car mercedes r320 cdi)
When the engine is cold the alternator is giving somewhere 12.9-13.1 volts. When idling or when revving it. It does not change much. When turning on majority of the consumables, voltage drops to 12.6-12.7.
When the engine gets warm, voltage goes up, up to 13.4-13.5.

As far as i know, this alternator has to give up to 14.2-14.4V output, depending on load, would drop to 13.8V. But what it gives now i think there is a problem.

The battery is half year old. Good quality, powerful battery, to the specs for the car.
I was guessing the cable connections. Cleaned them all (battery, starter, alternator earth and + cables), they did not look bad. No change.
Then i thought possibly the regulator is faulty? dont know hot to check it, so replaced it, it did not do any good. No change again.

Do not know what to target next?
Alternator itself? windings on the stator? rotor?
clutch pulley? maybe that one does not lock? (will check this next)
belt is one year old, tensioner as well.

Did anyone faced anything similar? what was the cause of it?

Any comments welcome.
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Old May 26, 2018 | 10:08 AM
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2005 C240 2011 R350
probably the alternator yes. Give it a full test under load. Do you have a load tester?
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Old May 26, 2018 | 10:16 AM
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virgisr's Avatar
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Mercedes R320L CDI 4MATIC 2007
Hi,

thanks for the reply. I was digging into it for few days. few days ago i found out that the alternator i bought 1.5 years ago, was not exactly the one for my car (the seller mistake?), so when i bought the regulator thinking this alternator is the right one, after i fitted it it did not play right with the alternator. At the end i am replacing the alternator with the original one. Still waiting for it to be delivered.

Will update if the problem is gone. Thanks
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