was wondering where this actually is located in a 93 civic ex, for once in my life google didnt have an answer for a question ha ha, i think being a 93 makes it an external one separate from the alternator but im not 100% sure of this. Any help or direction towards where i can find it would be greatly appreciated!!! thanks!

 

It's part of the alternator. The round plug from the harness plugs directly into the voltage regulator module inside the alternator.

External regulators pretty much all went away in the late 70's.

 

Ah ok, well my car symptoms are basically that the more stuff on that uses electrical power the crappier my car seems to run. So like during the day my car runs fine, idles a little low but other wise fine, but then at night when the lights are on and stuff it idles really really low. then if i park somewhere and shut off the lights and the interior fans or w/e the idle goes up to around 600-700 rpm (im estimating rpm) but for some reason the radio doesnt seem to have any effect being on or off on this issue, just lights, fans, brake lights, etc. a friend suggested the voltage regulator bc of all this. the alternator is newer also, the old one blew out so i replaced it and it's been doing this since before it was replaced.

 

It sounds like an idling problem, it could be that you're not getting enough air through the IACV. Clean it and the passages in the manifold. I assume the car runs OK driving down the road with everything on, it just idles low.

Turn on everything electric and rev the engine to about 1500 rpm. If you get more than 13.8 volts at the battery, alternator is OK.

A plain radio (no external amplifiers), even turned up really loud, only uses about 5 amps.