Battery Light on. Alternator?

[Ragecrow]

Yesterday as I parked my 93 atx I noticed that the battery light came on. I immediately did some battery maintenance. Cleaned the terminals, connectors and tested the battery and it is just fine. The car fires right up at start without the battery light turning on. Once I start driving, it turns on and the heating/air display flashes on and off and the airbag light will occasionally flash as well. Is there something else that could be causing this? My first guess would be the alternator going bad. She has 94k on her and it has never been replaced.

Any thoughts from anyone?

Thanks!

 

[Phoenix]

Alternator is bad.

Sometimes , the little connector on it is corroded and will cause the light to lit. But I don't think it's your case.

If you have a Multimeter handy , with engine running check Voltage on the Batt. You should get 14.0 to 14.7 Volts. Anything lower then that is a bad alternator.

Don't drive around in it or you may need another batt as well if you drain it too much.

 

[Ragecrow]

With the car running the voltage on the battery is 17+. Is there a built in voltage regulator in these alternators that could go bad? or is it something else. Obviously the car fires right up but I am getting all kinds of lights flashing like airbag, lamp lights, and of course the battery light is on.

Any other thoughts or is it still the aternator as teh culprit?

 

[gimpysho]

Alternator

I had same situtation this past march. 2 days after it first occured power/ engine died at traffic. Culprit was alternator. $180 @ Advance. I's a little less @ Rock Auto if you* aren't in a hurry.

Gimpy
*

 

[MD Ever]

With the car running the voltage on the battery is 17+. Is there a built in voltage regulator in these alternators that could go bad? or is it something else. Obviously the car fires right up but I am getting all kinds of lights flashing like airbag, lamp lights, and of course the battery light is on.

Any other thoughts or is it still the aternator as teh culprit?

Regulator is part of the alt. 17 volts is WAY too high and it will cause everything electrical in the car to freak out. If not fixed real soon it will damage other things as well.

 

[SHO93OFF]

Wow here I am about to post a topic and i run into this thread, Iam having the EXACT! problem, abs ,airbag light flashing, battery light on and off occasionally eatc flashes occationally stays on but is now mostly off. Iam going to do a complete charging system check tommorrow (i also did alot of batt. maintenance with out any changes)

 

[Mr95Gl]

Its your alternator. I'll bet it happens after 4 grand to. I just replaced my THIRD alternator 20 mins ago. Either that, or ensure that your terminals are nice and crisp, and the grounds are intact.

 

[SHO93OFF]

I also get crazy shorts somtimes for example somtimes the eatc will blink in sync with my turn signal, that kinda freaked my out i didnt think somthing like that would happen because of a bad alt.

 

[SHO93OFF]

Today i did a full charging system test with a midtronics test here is wat the results print out looked like :


CHARGING SYSTEM INCIDENT

HIGH
CHARGING VOLTAGE

IDLE VOLT : 17.67V
LOAD VOLT : 14.19V

DIODE RIPPLE NORMAL

....so i guess it is my alternator, this is the first time iama have to replace a alt. because is charge too much, lol (the battery was fine btw)