So I drove down to Ft. Lauderdale today...about 500 miles round trip from over here on the gulf coast.

Surprisingly, the car ran great the whole time, and the finished custom intercooler worked awesome. (It was between 21c & 27c outside all day, and intake temps stayed between 24c & 34c the whole trip: on the interstate + in stop & go traffic.)



Anyway, here is the strange problem:

For a few minutes while I was driving today, the warning (red dot) lights above the factory water temp & oil pressure gauges started lighting up, as well as the yellow brake ABS warning light. This happened a total of three times, for about 5 minutes each time.

What's weird is that the car was running perfect. Water temp sat right at 85c, battery voltage around 14v, oil pressure was normal.

I can't seem to tell what is causing this. A loose connection maybe? But where? I reached back and checked the battery terminals (in rear bin) but they were tight and shaking the cables / twisting the terminals didn't fix it. I also reached under the dash and tried to shake some of the wires down there - no fix.

It doesn't seem to be affecting anything, but it's really annoying when warning lights randomly light up (and sometimes flicker on & off).

Anyway, I can't figure it out. Suggestions?

 

most likely the alt. you sure about the batt voltage?

 

I agree. This happened to me when my alternator showed signs of failing. Expect your battery to die soon.

 

well i mean if you have a fluke and the time to kill, you could definitely just check the continuity of the alternator, see how much its putting out at different RPMs, get a good idea if its failing...that'll at least validate or eliminate the alternator as a possibility?
-- EDIT -- (Thats assuming you dont have access to an industrial alternator tester)

 

well the battery is a brand new optima yellow top.

the alternator is a re-man from auto-zone. maybe i should pull it and bring it in to them for a testing. it has a warranty so if that's the issue then it's no big deal.

ill post the results when i find out.

 

Optima or not, if your alt is going out its going to run out of juice.

 

haha now we just have to hope you dont get one of those auto-zone newbies too afraid to ask for help when he doesn't know what he's doing so he just says "its fine" and kicks it back out...

 

Sounds like the alternator to me...

 

IMO, there's your problem. Lots of remanufactured accessories are just plain junk. Rebuilders never (unless it is a high-$ source) replace anything that is still working during the rebuild, and, therefore, what was almost worn out at the time causes problems in the future.

 

I want to reinforce some recent bad experience with the AutoZone brand of "rebuilt" alternators. These are not Denso or Bosch units. The first one failed after a week. replaced under warranty the second had the voltage regulator fail in an over voltage state.....
Running the car like this for only a few minutes (limping home I thought) and it ruined the battery, the HKS Twinpower module, the air bag CPU and it did something bad to the ABS system that I am still tracking down (probably the CPU). Car now has a Mazda OEM rebuilt alternator....

Lesson learned - Anytime you get the warning lights lighting up as described above you should not assume that the alternator is in an under voltage state like I did..... Very expensive mistake.