sb66

thanks - yes definitely one thing at a time

sb66

ok - so I cleaned a few of the grounds and I thought I would check as I go - - I started it and all the lights are pulsing - under the hood, dash, door tail - it was like Christmas -the volts on the dash read all the way up to 15v - then I thought for the heck of it before I hoist the car up or tear into the dash - let me disconnect the alternator and start the car - the volts read 11.5, and not one light flickered or pulsed and they all had shown nice and bright

so this sounds like an alternator problem? yes?

Sean

sb66

I had ordered a powermaster 120 amp alternator for replacement and a rebuild kit just in case- also for the sake of wanting to know how and if I could ($13) there were a few issues with the power master -so they are sending a new one for exchange -

the long and the short - the lights do not flicker any longer - however, the volts now only read 11.4 - 11.7 and they have a red light next to them - I am presuming that's not a good red light?

the volts read steady between those numbers when driving - but I went from 14.3v before to 11.4 - ish should I be concerned? the battery is roughly 6 months old. I am going to put a charger on it to see what happens - but that seems like quite a change

any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated

Sean

bac22

Take a multimeter and measure the output of the alternator at the alternator itself...see if it's match what the dash shows. 11v is a bit too low and sounds like a bad alternator...this will cause issues when running a lot of power hungry devices like headlights as the alternator may not have enough power/amps to maintain a proper battery charge level.

sb66

thanks, that is what I am afraid of as well - I do not want to end up stranded . -

to test, that is the red cable to ground(on the alt.) and compare to battery correct?

thanks

Sean

JimLentz

Correct.

sb66

one more stupid question about this - I was attempting to test resistance between positive battery lead and the connection on the back of the alternator - red wire - the ohms reading that I got was o.o and o.1 - to put the cherry on top of stupid - is that good or bad?

thanks

Sean

confab

It's fine, as they should be directly connected and there should be no appreciable resistance there.

Switch up to Volts DC and check from that post to ground with the engine running.

sb66

ok will do

thanks

sb66

I wanted to take a minute and say thanks to everyone for helping with this - you get to learn a lot about your car going through even the simple things and it's great having a group of people that are willing to help you out.

I checked everything re-checked, I finally decided to take the alternator off and retrace my steps. for some reason in the back of my mind I kept wondering if I got the brushes and springs to stay in place when I put it back together. I could not tell when I opened it up, but I put it all back together and tried again - 14.1 - 14.2 upon firing it up, everything running well and flickerless. I ma not sure what I missed the first time but I got it right the second. I still have the powermaster 120amp on the way - just in case, but it was nice to see it work and learn a few thing along the way

unfortunately, I noticed a lot of fluid/ wet goop on my power steering pump - that must be next - never-ending, but fun nonetheless!
thanks everyone
Sean

bac22

Good to hear, wrenching isn't too hard when willing to dig in. And the more you know about your car the easier it becomes to troubleshoot potential problems in the future.