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Alternator problems?

parrym

New member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Lancaster, CA
I haven't tried to trouble shoot this yet, thought I would bounce it off the experts before I started. Here's my problem. The other day the radio died and the car started putting. It would still run but at low idle it would putt and almost die. Once the car was stopped, it would not start. I jumped the battery and it started ok, then started putting again. I'm sure it's not the battery as I just replaced it about 8 months ago. I was thinking it might be the alternator as the battery must not be getting charged.

Anybody have any thoughts on this, have the same problem? What would you suggest I test?

Thanks
 
Check your voltage, with the car running, it should be around 14. Also if the charge failure idiot light does not come on when you turn on the ignition, odds are your alternator is not charging. Power is fed through the idiot lamp to the alternator (small red wire), this power initiates the magnetic field in the alternator so it can start charging once it's spinning, so if the idiot lamp is not present or is bad, or if there is a fault in the little red wire, there will be no power to get things going.
 
I will check it out. Thought it might help also if I describe the car. 1980 GL 4 cyl, automatic, four door, B21 engine. Thanks
 
What TFT said. It does sound like low voltage for sure.

Make sure the belts are tight and the brackets are all secure. There is also a ground wire on the back of the alternator that is notorious for breaking after a few 100K.
 
Update: Took a look at my alternator this weekend. I think I found what may be the problem. I think things could be shorting out, although my voltage tests did not indicate so. When I reached down to check the wires, the insulation crumbled in my fingers. Closer inspection shows that the insulation had crumbled in several places on the wire. There are three wires, the big red wire (which is ok) a wire that goes to a temp monitor (which might explain why my temp gage does not work, it's stripped) and another wire that goes to the alternator. Who knows how far the wires are bare (they disappear under the engine).

I figure I will start by replacing the wires. Question, IPD has a complete harness for $600 (expensive) or they have a repair kit for the harness for $26 (guess I would order multiple of these to replace whatever wires I needed). What are your recommendations on replacing the alternator wires?

Thanks
 
parrym said:
Update: Took a look at my alternator this weekend. I think I found what may be the problem. I think things could be shorting out, although my voltage tests did not indicate so. When I reached down to check the wires, the insulation crumbled in my fingers. Closer inspection shows that the insulation had crumbled in several places on the wire. There are three wires, the big red wire (which is ok) a wire that goes to a temp monitor (which might explain why my temp gage does not work, it's stripped) and another wire that goes to the alternator. Who knows how far the wires are bare (they disappear under the engine).

I figure I will start by replacing the wires. Question, IPD has a complete harness for $600 (expensive) or they have a repair kit for the harness for $26 (guess I would order multiple of these to replace whatever wires I needed). What are your recommendations on replacing the alternator wires?

Thanks

Try this guy for used.
http://personal.linkline.com/dbarton/
 
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