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so im about to put my 4th alternator in my civic in 3 yrs.

what should i be checking for a root cause?

any one else had this problem? i have a system (nothing huge 350 watts) but unhooked it last yr because of another alternator.

thanks

 
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Could be a short somewhere. Could also be junk remanufactured alternators. I had trouble with a couple of alternators that the internal regulator kept failing. Lights dimmed in and out until I got a good one.

 
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I just had an online mechanic tell me that the ELD is probably bad. There's a service bulletin out on it that many have a bad solder. If it runs bad it pulls extra load from the alternator causing it to overheat and malfunction.

Hope that helps.