more probs

[scooby]

yes the other 2 threads are mine , car is confusing.

onto the prob. about a month ago my batt light came on , so i took it to the local advanced auto parts store and had the charging system tested. they informed me i needed a new alt. ok so i replaced the alt. well the batt light would still come on , so yesturday i went a head and replaced the batt. and now my batt light still comes on? what am i missing? and ideas out there? i guess i could go ahead and get the system checked again , hopefully they dont tell me my alt is bad. the alt was rebuilt by a shop , that charged me $90. i guess they could have messed up the rebuild? i dunno? is there anything else that would make my batt light come on? however i will say the car is never dead , it still starts everyday. i guess something is pulling a lot of juice from the batt? i dunno? help

 

[Kens1992mtxSHO]

Start the car and check the voltage at the battery. It should be 14.4 volts at the battery with the car running.

 

[whiteguy3]

I would do what Ken is suggesting. I would also replace your ground and power wire. You can get them for fairly cheap at an auto parts store. One connects at the starter, and one connects at the tranny for a ground.

 

[scooby]

i will attempt that job monday - sounds like a winner. i will replace both batt cables - is it a easy job?

 

[Kens1992mtxSHO]

It took me about 30-45 minutes to complete.

 

[scooby]

*update* i replaced both batt cables and my batt light still comes on? new batt and rebuilt alt. maybe its some sort of short? the car always starts. or maybe alt probs due to it being rebuilt? i dunno?

 

[St Louis SHO]

Voltage regulator is probably junk at this point.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

What year SHO?


You're assuming that there is nothing wrong with the "rebuilt" alternator. There are a number of threads here with forum member accounts of having problems with "rebuilt" alternators and starters, including several instances of repeated DOB (Dead out of the box).

I was in a Firestone Monday, visiting a high school friend. They had a car come in with a bad starter (intermittent bendix). After trying two "rebuilt" NAPA starters - neither of which "dropped-right-in", much less worked - they then called for an ACDelco unit from the dealer (after expending NAPA's inventory). Unlike the two NAPA starters, it bolted in easily and worked without problem.

Aftermarket Rebuild -2 / OEM Remanufactured +1


First, verify that the harness and battery cables are in good working order. If they are, it's most likely a bad alternator . . . .


If you'll search the forum, you will find quite a few posts on out-of-the-box problems with many rebuilt/remanufactured alternators and starters. Unless you're buying an OEM or other high-quality remanufactured alternator, most "less-expensive" rebuilds do not completely rebuild the faulty alternator starter. Instead, they only rebuild/replace those internal components of the alternator/starter that fail their nominal testing procedures (hence how they undercut a Ford remanufactured unit which is completely overhauled). Many of the "less-expensive" rebuilds simply clean-up and rebuild the alternator and starters using the remaining used parts that do pass testing, thus exposing the next-weaker-link which can fail relatively shortly after the install, or within a very short period of time (do a search using the keywords "alternator" or "remanufacture", combined with another term such as failed or failure).

yes the other 2 threads are mine , car is confusing.

onto the prob. about a month ago my batt light came on , so i took it to the local advanced auto parts store and had the charging system tested. they informed me i needed a new alt. ok so i replaced the alt. well the batt light would still come on , so yesturday i went a head and replaced the batt. and now my batt light still comes on? what am i missing? and ideas out there? i guess i could go ahead and get the system checked again , hopefully they dont tell me my alt is bad. the alt was rebuilt by a shop , that charged me $90. i guess they could have messed up the rebuild? i dunno? is there anything else that would make my batt light come on? however i will say the car is never dead , it still starts everyday. i guess something is pulling a lot of juice from the batt? i dunno? help

 

[RStalveyARFF]

We had this problem on my friend's old 90. We ended up having to replace the chassis wiring harness inside the engine bay. Problem fixed! As these cars get older, the wires get brittle.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

Having stripped-out a lot of underhood wiring harnesses, I was surprised by the relatively few with *any* damage to any wiring insulation anywhere within the harness. In every case, the "apparent" brittleness (cracking sounds as the harness is moved/bent) was due to the wire harness loom and harness tape, one or both of which were brittle.

Those few instances where I have found brittle/cracked/broken wire insulation have been in the harness near the underhood fuse-box, in close proximity to the battery/starter cable feed to the fuse-box. And in these cases I suspect at least some of this damage was due to battery/starter cables that were in very poor condition and/or improper jump starting procedures (both of which can cause enough heat to melt wire insulation due to in-wire resistance). There was one harness where the wires coming-off the alternator were brittle, which may have been due to a faulty alternator (excessive voltage regulator output).

 

[hawkeye18]

Another thing to check is voltage at the 3-wire plug that goes into the alternator (you did plug it in, right? lol). One of these wires supplies the alternator with VBATT so that it can tell how much voltage it needs to put out. The other wire goes to... you guessed it, the battery light in the dash. It supplies alternator voltage to compete against the voltage coming at the other side of the bulb from the battery. If the alternator voltage is lower (or 0, because the wire broke or isn't making contact), the bulb will light up.

Oh yeah, the third wire doesn't go anywhere. It just ends inside the harness. I think it's the middle one... I think it's black?

Anyway, with the car off, you need to check resistance between the two wires and the positive terminal. They need to both be less than 2 ohms. If they're not, then that's your problem.

 

[Shopower400]

In my 94 atx the alternator died about 1 week after I installed it. It was "refurbished". I brought it back, and they gave me a brand new one for the same price... Haven't had a problem since!