hey all i upgraded to a 3rd gen alternator and every since then my warning lights have come on. all of them have come on except for the brake ecu and fuel lightws. what makes me think that it is the alternator is the fact that they get brighter with the rpms. if i turn on the lights or wipers then they get full blast and stay there untill i turn that accesori back off. any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

also i have a optima in the passenger bin if that make s adiference

 

It sounds more like a faulty alternator then too much amperage, the nice thing about DC amperage, is that it's hard to hurt yourself with "too much" (as a general rule that is). I highly doubt the issue is with too much power, but rather not enough, or a faulty connection.

-Good luck-

 

The solder joints to the Idiot Lights are probably bad or the bulbs are burnt out them selves. Your Charging System would not be selective as to what lights they want to display or not.

You've addressed that you've upgraded your Battery which Indicates to me that you are running a top notch Charging System. Good.

What were your symptoms prior to the upgrade? Primarily, can you verify your connections are Intact? Belt tension?

 

All of the lights light up when there is a charging failure, so you aren't getting enough power apparently.

 

Faulty voltage regulator perhaps? I have some electrical gremlins myself. I can't run the rear defrost, headlights, wipers, heater, and my electric fan all at once at idle or my car will shut off. Sucks for winter driving. Something is also killing my battery. I thought it was a bad battery, but I disconnected it for six months and then got it tested and it was still good so I know something in my car is drawing current. Plus, I have no electricity once I shut off my car. Tha means no dome light, the sterio resets, the clock resets etc. It is a pain in the butt. Let us know what you figure out!

 

Mikeric, i had the same prob for a while. It turned out my alt was bad... even after i removed it and had it tested . it tested GOOD, but after i installed a new alt no problems. strange.

where is the voltage regulator located in our cars? anyone?

-Markus

 

what would REALLY help is some accurate voltage readings at idle and higher rpm.

whip out your DMM and tell us what your results are.

 

Or you forgot to plug the harness into the alternator :-D

 

or got the wires mixed up when wiring it (if you have an s4)

if you got them mixed up, the alternator would see a lower voltage signal and put out more and more amps, and never see the proper voltage, which inturn would overcharge the battery..

thats me going out on a sturdy limb though..

 

actually that was what I was thinking as well... bad wire up, and the regulator is not working correctly

 

stick at volt meter on it...

and the fact that 3 of the dash lights aren't comming on makes it weird. they should all be on for an alt failer.

I would guess you wired it wrong. as those 2 extra wires is what makes the dash light up.

 

was i suppose to wire something diffferent? cuz it jsut plugged right in? hold on ill go take a pic

 

oh you have an 89 it goes right in... someone above mentioned S4

 

here

 

so if its wired correctly then its a bad alternator? another question for yah on the same subject, the lights only act wierd like that anbout half the time, the other half of the time they act normal.

 

get a volt meter on the alt. + with the car running...

then we will have alot more info for you.

 

Pretty funny. I know it is plugged in as the headlights dim/brighten with the engine speed. It probably has a bad regulator. I believe our altanators have internal regulators, am I correct? That still wouldn't explain why the battery is being drained by the car when it is shut off. How much current should the car pull when shut off as I can test that.

 

i think i fixed it. that bitg wire that goes on to the back of the alternator. well yah lets just say it was kinda loose.

 

Riley. *sigh*

Although I am confident In the FD Alternator I sent you was top notch, theres always the possibility that one may be bad. Again, I test every single one of them prior to being shipped so that leaves little chance for failure. At any rate, I am not saying I don't condone or disagree with you presenting this before the board, but you could have PM'd me to weed out what culprit that may have existed.

 

when kristys vert had all the lights turniong on it was a bad alt... at idle she was seeing 17 volts... this was the same weekend she hit hollys fd