One thing that occasionally happens is that the system ground gets messed up. There is usually a braided metal bonding strap from the engine to the firewall. This ensures that the engine block (where the alternator is grounded) is at the same ground potential as the vehicle body (which is where most all other electrical devices are grounded to). If that strap is loose or missing, then the ground path is interrupted and must find another route. The negative battery cable can come loose from the engine block, or can get rusty and corroded and cause high resistance. These problems induce resistance which reduces available voltage, increases current demand, and can overtax the alternator's voltage regulator over time, causing failure. Use a digital multimeter and, on the 1x ohms scale, check resistance between:
- Engine block and body metal (use clean, bare metal locations)
- Alternator case and engine block
- Alternator case and negative battery terminal
- Negative battery terminal and engine block
- Negative battery terminal and body metal.
All of these locations are technically "ground".. There should be very little resistance measured on any of these checks. Any readings that, on the 1x ohms scale, read as open circuits need to be checked and repaired.