I've been searching through alot of the "Hit brakes and radio goes out" threads, because basically that is what is happening to me. I will bullet my problems:

--Left Blinker; front and rear blink rapidly. (drawing excess amperage through CPU)

--Right Blinker; works fine.

--Battery is not charging. (there are no voltage spikes to be absorbed, leading me to believe in my "major short" theory.)

--Not enough cranking voltage after car is shut off. (Battery drains electrons to a ground) And battery voltage after 24hrs is down to 5V.

--Closing the Brake light switch snaps my Volt indicator to 12V, then jumps back up to about 13. Or when I have my Sunroof open, then try to open it more.

**Left Blinker Light (bulb rusted in place, not blown, and lights up) Parabolic Reflector missing...reason for dim looking blinker.


**Left Blinker Base


**Right Blinker Light (bulb removed)


**Right Blinker Base


**Wiring Diagram



I disconnected the left blinker via the harness under the Leading Ignition Coil, with no change in the electrical behavior, other than the bulb not illuminating.

In the wiring Diagram, by the left blinker i circled "To Meter Indicator". What is the Meter Indicator, where does this wire go?

 

whats your running voltage?

 

Running Voltage is only 12.5-13V

 

Have you had the system tested?

 

System tested how? I have a multimeter. This whole thing happened when I let my car sit for about a week after driving in rain.

 

Most places like AutoZone or Checkers, or whatever have a diagnostic machine. You can even take your alternator over there to get tested.

 

No I have not gone to anyplace to check it out. One reason is that my tabs are expired, the other is that I see them as a last resort.

 

the machine tests out your charging system. They charge like $20 to check out.

 

Yea, the thing is, I know my alternator isn't bad, there is a grounding issue, or a short somewhere and I'm hopeing someone has experienced something similar.

 

If your alt is not bad (which from every single thing you have posted in this thread says it is) then what is the voltage while the engine is running at idle.

It should be at least 13.5 volts.

Any lower and your alt is not working properly. You say that the voltage is at 12.5 volts... if so then your alt is not producing enough power to even run the car and you are running on battery voltage (no wonder your battery goes dead overnight- its not being charged). You need at least 13.5 volts just to charge the battery.

You symptoms all scream of a bad battery and bad alt (probably killed the alt with the bad battery).

Have you done a current test on the car to see what the voltage at off is??? Should be less than 70mA.

And the pictures you posted have nothing to do with anything. You simply have a bad bulb socket and the CPU is telling you that. The Meter indicator that you ask about in the top of the thread is the indicators on the gauges that your turn signals are on. Either way the bad bulb sockets will only kill/ burn out your light switch and not anything to do with anything while the car is running. The flashing fast turn signal is an indicator that you have a bad bulb or bad connection to the bulb. (doesn't anyone read the owners manuals???- only been that way on Japanese cars for the last 20 years).

And most radios will die with less than 11 volts, so when you hit the brakes the 35+watts of power that it takes to luminate the brake lights is drawing the cars power under 11 volts- pretty much again making sure that your battery will never work properlly as again it is not being charged.

 

Well I have not had the Alternator Bench tested for current. But I do think I just I dentified that the wires are fine from the alternator (+) to batt (+), and alternator (-) to battery (-). The Voltage drop from the Alternator to battery on both the pos. and neg. is less than 0.1 V. More like 0.08 for pos. and 0.03 for neg.

So it looks like I need a new alternator and I missed the FD Alternator Boat by a week or so. damnit.

 

I called Advance Auto Parts, and they say they'll bench test my alternator for free. Is there a catch?

 

Well, apparently it was the alternator. I just didn't want to face that expense. I have not had the alternator load tested, but I did take it to Advance Auto and they did a free bench test of the voltage. The Voltage didn't even reach 12V. Just like when I did a charging voltage on the battery terminals with a DMM, (11.5). I have a question though:

--Knowing that my +Alt. to +Batt. wire has VERY low voltage drop, (well within spec), and my -Alt. to -Batt. wire has VERY low voltage drop, (well within spec), Is there anything else that would cause a major disruption of my electrical system if I put an FD alt. in?

 

What part of the problem being the Alt. Dont you understand? As soon as you replace it, you wont have anymore probs

 

My concern is that when I do replace my alternator, I don't want electrons to flow to my chassis. As opposed to a blinker, or ECU, or anything else that was designed to use current.

I want to know, if my alternator is sound, (100 amps), and my wires connecting my Alternator to battery, battery to ground, battery to starter, alternator to - battery, are sound, are there any other major problem areas that might inhibit 100% performance of my new alternator?

I.E, is there a place that after 19 years of driving and wear, where alot of people on this forum experiece a constant problem. (i.e. a sharp edge that has rubbed an insulation down to the wire in the same spot among 100 FC owners.)

I know my alternator IS the problem now. I want to make sure that my alternator was the ONLY problem, when I install my FD Alternator.

 

just install the alt. Alt go out after a while, its completely normal with age and usage. now if you have put more than one recently, then you have somewiring issues.

 

well let's hope that the alternator will solve all my problems. But as you know, wires corrode, insulation deteriorates, wires that supply voltage short out, etc. etc. If i invest $190, i want to make sure that my new alternator has the easiest time powering all my circuits. I can replace wires easily and cheap, so I'd like to know where the problem areas are.