[quote="SlantSixDan"]Welcome on the board. We won't hold your 318 against ya!
Likely causes of this behaviour:
•Your regulator lost its ground, either internally or externally, and/or
•One of your alternator's fields grounded out, either internally (inside the alternator) or externally (via a faulty field wire)
I find it wise to buy good-quality parts. The "remanufactured" alternators and generic regulators and such from parts stores are junk, and I've learnt through bitter experience not to trust them despite the gimmicky "lifetime warranty". Brand-new alternators go by regularly on eBay. The premium Standard regulator is a good pick. So is a NAPA Echlin VR-38. But CarQuest might've sold you a good regulator, too; what'd you get?[/quote]
Problem recurred, new voltage regulator fixed it, Standard VR 125, three times the price of the Standard cheapo part number, hope it goes more than 25,000 miles this time. Thanks for the info.