the_newt

i have a theory. the universe is trying to blow up my car by giving me a leaky PD and a potential electrical short but i'm sure there's a more reasonable explanation. so let me explain what's new in car flaws:

so i started my car leaving my friend's apartment and as i get to the light at the end of the street, i notice my lights are flickering on and off. i think to myself, hmmm that's odd. so i pull into burger king for a snack and as i'm waiting in line, i hear a squealing noise from my engine and think hmmm that could be a belt or some metal on metal wear. i decide belt and drive along getting on the freeway after some city driving, all the while noticing a smooth idle yet flickering head lights and dash lights. i also notice that when i hit the turn signals, the lights flicker in time with the clicking of the relays. and then i notice that when i turn the headlights on and off, the tachometer shoots up but the engine speed stays normal. i get it to my apartment and as i'm getting properly adjusted into a parking spot, my car dies and then it won't crank or do much of anything electrical other than having the brake light pop on faintly and about 6V showing up on the dash voltmeter. i eventually get a jump and park the car only to try turning on the lights and it killing the battery. the end

so i'm guessing it's either a **** alternator, alternator collection, or some ground got lost and it's forcing me to run off the battery all the time. this just started today also. it was fine on the way to work, to the tax collectors office for the title transfer, and on the way to my friend's place. although that silver FD i saw may have cursed me i don't know how car curses work but so far i'm doing well with this one. my 300zx died a day after a friend said it'll suck when that breaks.

bugman1973

yeah sounds like something with the alternator system. thats the only thing it sounds like or a belt popped off and you didnt know it i had the alternator belt pop off once had know idea till i got home and saw my car over heating. your car wasnt running hot was it? you said you heard a squealing sound. did you check on that yet?

the_newt

running a bit warmer than usual but nothing too out of the ordinary and i checked under the hood while looking around and the belt was definitely on the pulley and some tension was there but i didn't have time/effort to check whether the tension was up to spec. but i tried to decarbonize it and i can't tell at this point what's alt related and what's resultant of running the car up and down 71 for half an hour by ignoring fifth gear and redlining every gear. oil pressure is fine now though.

the_newt

****. turns out the alternator and battery are fine after explaining to the oreilly's clerk that it really was off an RX-7 despite it saying Mitsubishi on the alt case. now i get to go about tearing through the old wires trying to find out which one caused my battery drain.

anyone got any ideas?