Coolant_Leak

iTrader: (18)

Car was fine in the afternoon, at night the car just had both the oil and coolant lights turn on, and the battery light. no beeping noises either.

the oil level is normal, the coolant is topped off and bled. so whats going on with the car? the car starts up fine, and when warm the lights remain on.

Coolant_Leak

iTrader: (18)

after doing some searching.. consensus seems to be failing alternator?? can anyone re-confirm this? thanks.

Banzai-Racing

iTrader: (11)

What you have described does indicate a faulty alternator

Coolant_Leak

iTrader: (18)

started the car up this morning and all the indicator lights are off and okay again, turned up the stereo, turned on the headlights, and everything thing is still fine... no flickering or weird hesitations.

i then re-did my 'hypergrounds', and then tightened the negative cable... checked the pfc and i am pulling 14.4volts on idle.

could it have just been faulty grounding? or is the alternator still a suspect.

pomanferrari

iTrader: (1)

I get these symptoms if my battery ground is loose.

Banzai-Racing

iTrader: (11)

Monitor your voltage and see. It could have been a grounding issue or you could have an intermittent issue with your alternator. They have brushes inside that wear out

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

14.4 volts at idle is excellent actually. I'd keep monitoring things and see what happens.

RotorDream

You are correct that this can be caused by a grounding issue. If the negative cable on the battery becomes loose or has a poor connection it will act exactly as you have described. if you have the original battery terminal, I would recommend replacing it just to be on the safe side, since its only like $5. Like Goodfella said, I would keep a eye on your alternator just to be "safer".

I wish I got 14.4 volts out of my alternator haha.

Coolant_Leak

iTrader: (18)

thanks for the input everyone i will be monitoring my voltage issue, and get a new ground terminal.

Coolant_Leak

iTrader: (18)

after a week of no issues the problem is back again.

It happened when i was making a hard left. I read on another thread that bottoming out, or rubbing your wheels on the fender wheel well can cause electrical issues, due to wires being there? The car is lowered 1in in front (eibach's) with 255/40/17's. There is clearance but there is some rubbing on the inside of the wheel well. There is no hole however.

This time all the warning lights turned on (Oil/coolant/ABS/charge battery). The ABS was a new one. I got the car back home running strictly on battery(optima 51R yellow top) power it seemed because voltage was at 12peak, and steadily dropped to 9V by the time i reached my house (wasnt very far away). After I got the car back home, I changed my ground terminal (was corroded), cut the main ground wire(added a topmount crimp), re-sanded my engine bay, reconnected the hyper grounds, connected a ground to the engine ->firewall.

After doing all those things, the ABS light turned off. but the Coolant/Oil/Battery charge lights were still on but dimmer. Voltage is now 11.5steady, and it will rise when i raise the RPMs. at 1,500rpm it will be at 13V, at 2000+ it will go up to 13.8-14V. when i am revving the lights become even dimmer but they are still on.

definitively a bad alternator now? or still an issue with the negative ground it looks like theres a small gap along the top... but the terminal is securely on the bottom i suppose since it is not able to wiggle at all.

car starts perfectly without assistance as well. so the alternator seems to be giving it some charge.

EDIT::... Checked the PFC. and the HWL and CAT lights are blinking under the sensor check. what do those mean?

RotorDream

HWL is the exhaust temp warning light and CAT is the catalyzer thermo switch



The ground terminal will usually not go all the way down as it gets wider the farther down you go. aslong as it is tight and doesnt wiggle, you should be fine. I would bet that it is a bad alternator. With a bad ground the oil/coolant/charge lights would be getting brighter due to the extra voltage from the alternator. The reason these illuminate is due to the extra voltage created by the alternator cannot reach the battery (where it normally charges it) and is forced to go through the cars electrical system, hence the reason the lights get brighter.