1990_Tbird_SC said:
I might try that. But its really weird, the battery light stays on but it flickers (hard to explain) when i give it gas that light gets brighter, telling me that the car is charging. I looked in my service manual and it said the battery should be at 12volts when the car is off which it was and at 14-15volts when running. It stayed at 12volts, the voltage doesnt rise or fall when the car is running.
I dont trust anybody checking out my car but me, even for free. Ive had to many people try to screw me so I rather just figure it out myself
Glad to be of help here. I'm of the same mind. So, let me summarize, then I'll get to the details:
Your alternator is gone and in fact, its telling you that its gone.
The alternator's internal regulator circuit is what lights the light bulb on the dash.. nothing else in any circuit in the car can turn that bulb on. When it dims, its actually making a slight amount of output, when its brighter, little or zero output. If the light comes on constantly, then you can take it to a place and they'll machine test it and sure enough it'll test bad. If the light flickers, then its iffy.. it may test OK, or not depending on the mood its in that day. You sort of have to wait for it to fail completely.
This presents a problem, because when that happens, you're left to limp home on battery reserve alone. daytime OK, nightime not good.
When the alternator is working, you should be able to test the voltage across the battery posts (not the clamps) with the engine idling and measure 13.5 - 15V. With the engine off, you should measure 12V.
You should get a charger and keep the battery fully charged until you are able to get a replacement alternator.. This is important for 2 very good reasons:
1. When the alternator cuts out, you're driving on the battery for as long as it can hold out. Turn off all non-essential accesories (lights, A/C, fans, radio).
2. When you install a new alt, if the battery isn't fully charged, it will overwork itself and wear out and you'll be getting another one again.
Also, get a bulb type battery tester to be sure, don't rely just on how long it was hooked up to the charger. Test it.
I don't have a good recommendation for a supplier for alternators. Autozone's Duralast (what I have) is a poor quality reman which usually means that all remans are probably poor. They just resell the most of them. It took 3 of them to get a good one. But... it is lifetime warranted..
so you're stuck. Problem is you have to suffer a lot with the breakdowns and proving the part is junk. They don't just fail, they flicker but test out OK. You might check out Napa and grill the guy about the lousy reputation of rebuilt alternators.
