recorderguy

Hi,
I have an 06 xb and recently got a elm327 bluetooth obd reader. I plugged it in to see if it was working (seems to be) and was surprised by a battery voltage reading of 16 - 16.5 volts.
I'm thinking thats a bit high. Perhaps not coincidentally I recently had to replace a battery that was only 2 years old (fortunately under warranty). And now that I think about it the last head light bulb didn't last too long. There were no trouble codes showing. Soooooo.... 1st off: am I right that it should be reading closer to 14v, and assuming it's the voltage regulator, does the whole alternator need to be replaced? Is it okay to be driving this until it gets sorted out, or am I asking for trouble?

Thanks in advance,
Peter

FLECOM

sounds like a bad regulator more than likely... could also be a poor ground connection... use a multimeter to check the voltage at the battery when the car is off (should be around 12VDC) and measure the voltage at the battery when it is on (ideally 13.8-14.2) if it really is 16+VDC check for resistance between the ground terminal of the battery and the alternator itself... should be very low only a couple ohms at most putting 16+V can definitely damage the battery