 Alternator Light ON most of the time, How do I determine what's wrong? |
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| ThinAir |
 Sep 25 2007, 11:48 PM
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Best friends  Group: Members Posts: 2,564 Joined: 4-February 03 From: Flagstaff, AZ Member No.: 231 Region Association: Southwest Region 
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I HATE electrical problems!!!! Okay, with that out of the way... here's the deal.
My car went 800 miles round trip for Red Rock Classic with no problems at all. When I shut the engine off in the driveway I had no glowing alternator light. A couple of hours later I start it up to move the car and the alternator light is on. I ran the car some to try and determine if it was really on or just glowing and discovered that the light went out and seemed to be tied to the engine rpms. Well I've tried to tighten the belt, but have gotten no different results. Most of the time when I drive the voltmeter is sitting just under 12 volts and the light is glowing dimly, but if I am idling the light is on strong. Once in awhile the light will go out and the voltmeter will show 14 volts, but there is no consistency to it. The AA Tech Tips book says this: Condition: Light off with key off Light on with key on Light glows dimly when car is running Problem: Bad diode in alternator or bad ground Since tightening the belt has not made a difference, it seems like it must be one of these things. The question is how do I tell what it is? Since the car starts consistently I know that the tranny ground strap is well connected and that's been confirmed. Since the alternator grounds to the engine case, where else could there be a bad ground? |
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| SirAndy |
Sep 27 2007, 09:03 PM
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Resident German Group: Admin Posts: 42,207 Joined: 21-January 03 From: Oakland, Kalifornia Member No.: 179 Region Association: Northern California |
check the contacts on the alternator harness first. McMark had the same thing happen on the way back from RRC. turned out all he needed was to clean the contacts ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif) Andy |
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Posts in this topic
ThinAir Alternator Light ON most of the time Sep 25 2007, 11:48 PM
Rand Just because it's so easy... Check the contact... Sep 25 2007, 11:58 PM purple check fuse #9. you may have inadvertently kicked i... Sep 26 2007, 08:17 AM ThinAir Well I've checked fuse #9. It's good and ... Sep 27 2007, 08:47 PM ThinAir Clean contacts for the alternator wiring harness d... Sep 29 2007, 01:34 PM Headrage I'm not sure how accurate it is but you can ru... Sep 29 2007, 01:48 PM ThinAir Duh - I just called my FLAPS and they say they can... Sep 29 2007, 02:09 PM ThinAir So... along the way I found this topic by Brad And... Sep 29 2007, 02:27 PM
Gint BTW the Richard Atwell page that Brad references i... Oct 7 2007, 10:45 AM ThinAir
I fixed your link Ernie.
Thanks, Mike. Obviousl... Oct 8 2007, 02:06 AM ThinAir Replaced the alternator today. What a pain, but i... Oct 6 2007, 11:51 PM ejm
The problem here is corrosion. Many of the mecha... Oct 7 2007, 06:11 AM BMartin914 Ther alternator also grounds through the brushes. ... Oct 7 2007, 09:06 AM |
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