'86 Mercruiser 170, stock charging system. I put my meter on the battery when she was running, no change in voltage when bringing r's up (11-12volts) Even after running her around for a while, still hard, slow cranks. Volt gauge (not that i trust it but..)on dash never goes above 12 volts. Stator has two thick yellow w/red tracer wires going to the water cooled voltage regulater (i'm guessing this is the rectifier to change from ac to dc?), one orange off of the Volt Reg to starter solenoid and one red w/purple tracer going to circuit breaker then back to the starter solenoid. I've read about the charging system on these were faulty and to just change over to a reg alternator with the kit but, i did some tests and there is voltage coming out the startor wires and increases with rpm's. I don't know how to test voltage reg or know what readings i should be seeing from either because my book is pretty lame. If anyone can send me some info on how and what to test and what kind of readings i should be getting, i would really appreciate it. Thanks.<br /><br />- Jersey