The alternator's been replaced a few times and the battery (newish) still won't charge. The truck isn't anywhere near me; I want to gather all the parts it might need, then go fix it where it's been dumped and drive it back home. I doubt it'll make the ~80 mile trip without a working charging system. I hear the 87's have internal regulators and the 83's have external. How about the 86?

Could it be anything other than the voltage regulator at fault here?

 

If i remember right from 85 and up the voltage regulator is built into the alternator. Try checking all of the fuses in the fuse box under the hood and the fuse box behind the driver side kick panel. I ve had some of the fuses on my 86 4Runner get corroded and things would quit working, i pulled all of my fuses out one at a time and either cleaned or replaced them. So far i havn`t had any more problems.

 

Regulator is internal on 1986 alternators

 

Thanks!

So... fuses. Anything else? This truck's 80+ miles from my house; I want to make sure I can get it to run in one trip there and back, not running out of parts or ideas and having to do it twice.

 

make sure all the connections to the alternator are good and the ground. note* sometimes you have to go through a few aftermarket alternators to get a good one. make sure the belt driving the alternator is tight. make sure the wire from the alternator to the battery is good. and make sure all of your grounds are good. and make sure all the appropriate fuses aren't blown. I believe there is a fuse for the charging system, but I'd have to check that.