battery/alternator light

asmoboba

Registered User
hey guys,


a few weeks ago on my 89 SC my battery/alternator light started coming on at seemingly random times, often blinking and with no real pattern. So i took it into the shop and they tested the alternator and battery with load etc. and showed me the readings and everything tested good they said, no sign of the alternator going, and the battery is quite new and that was good.

so that made me feel better, but since then, the light has continued to come on a fair amount, and it's just seemingly random. I read that if the light comes on when idling and you rev the car and it goes off, it's the alternator, and vice versa for the battery. but sometimes that's what the light does, but other times it'll be flashing on and off during high revs...so who knows. About the only thing that's constant is that when the light comes on, the dash lights dim a bit. Other than that, the pattern is seemingly random, and the stereo/fan being on or off doesn't effect it, only revving the car seems to, but that's not constant either like i said above.

so anyways, i'm worried that the alternator is starting to go or something and i'll be driving one day and the car will die, even though everything tested ok. Any ideas as to what could be causing this?

Thanks in advance for any feedback....everyone here is a big help whenever I post....thanks a lot!!
 
Alternator is starting to go.

At least, Thats what it was with me. My car had the exact same sypmtoms. Charge light would come on and off with absolutely no pattern to it. It got worse and worse until eventually the alternator wasnt charging at all.

You got the alt tested? Well... try to have it tested some time when the charge light is on. I'll bet $10 they tell you that your alternator is doing nothing. Something on the inside of it is causing it to only charge half of the time.

I'm afraid your only alternative now is to buy a new alternator or have yours rebuilt. A new one from Ford runs about $180 if I recall, but you can certainly get a used one from someone on the forums for a lot cheaper. Rebuilding it is about the same price.

If you want to buy a broken one (the same problem it appears yours has) then I'm the man for ya ;-)

PS. I seem to have written this response like it was a fact. I'm reasonably sure your alternator is bad, but I could be wrong. If you want to know for sure, take it out of the car and have it bench tested somewhere.
 
Just went through this...........

Hey I just went through this, it took about a month for the alternator to finally die, but it did. It was the regulator inside the alternator that went.
 
thanks

Thanks for the help guys....I'd better start looking for an alternator on here before mine dies!
 
It's the alternator

I just had the exact same problem last week.

I replaced my alternator with a $140 one that I bought from Murray's. You might as well take the bad one there first so that they can give you the credit for the core and only have to make one trip.

It's a little tricky to take off. Everything is so packed in there that I had to take the supercharger tube off to get it out. After that it wasn't too bad.

Mako
 
REPLACE IMMEDIATELY!!!

I had it happen once, and its starting to happen again....your voltage reulator is going out. VERY BAD thing to happen, as it will actually OVERcharge your car's electrical system to around 16+ volts....not good. When it happend to me the first time, my Optima red top leaked everywhere destroying the cells, vertually every light on the car blew up. It also wiped out the wiper motor and multifunction switch. I had mine rebuilt, but its starting to do it again after only 10k mi. Best suggestion and what Im am doing this time is to buy a Powermaster Hi-Output alternator for about $220. It is 180amp compaired to our stock 110amp alternator, and carries a lifetime warrenty. But whatever you do, dont wait on replacing it. Oh, and you dont need to remove the IC tubing, just wiggle it around a bit and it will come out.
 
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