A week ago, my charge lights and such wouldn't light up, I checked voltage while not running and running and everything was normal, so I ignored it.

Tonight, since it has been raining, my dash was lit up like a christmas tree. The alternator was charging, as the rather junky S5 volt meter was concerned. I drove home, but the warning cluster was all lit up.

I know at this point, I need a new alternator, but it should be fine driving my car as long as the main parts of the voltage regulator works and F the charge lights for now? It's christmas and I dont want to buy an alternator just yet.

Live with it or just remove the idiot cluster, the **** doesnt work anyway, correctly.

 

Grounds.

 

The day after I wrote that post the alt didnt charge on my way to work so I replaced . That fixed the issue. I will still check the engine grounds because the charge lights are dim (this was an issue with the previous alt as well). I beefed up the engine to chassis ground long ago but worth checking.