Whenever i turn my lights on during the night i get a a pulsating effect when makes all power in my system pulsate. I checked to make sure the alternator has good ground and it does, but still i have this problem. A couple times the alternator just quit working for 10 seconds then fired up again. Time for new alternator? Whats the amperage rating on these things anyway?


thanks

jeff

 

Jeff

The alternator might be on the way out if you are sometimes getting voltage and sometimes not. Are you getting any times where the voltage climbs very high? If so, it might be the voltage regulator. That would be a 10 buck fix if you have a 91 and it is mounted on the firewall. If you have a 92,93 the voltage regulator is most likely in the SMEC(equivalent of the computer). I don't know what that costs. Some 92's I believe had them on the firewall as well, or someone converted it to be there.

To test the alternator, get a voltmeter.(if you didn't already) It should be 14-15 volts while running, and constant at that level unless you turn the lights on or something. It should return up to 15 even at that.

If it is intermittently cutting out, then it looks like you need a new alternator. This is what happened to mine, and then it went altogether. It's about 200 bucks canadian $, and is about a 10 minute job to change. I did mine on the lunch hour with time to eat lunch leftover. it is a 120 amp alternator I believe.

 

Grid heater relay hanging up when hot already?

 

Good point apache.

Jeff, to ensure that the heater grids are not the cause, listen under the engine to hear if a pop/click corresponds to the power loss. If not, refer to my previous post. Good luck with it.

 

Checked out the alternator today, get a reading of 14.9 with or without the lights. I don't think the grid heater hangs up because it's not like a 5 sec pulsate, it's more like a 1ms pulsate. So fast you can barely notice it. Probley not the regulator???


thanks

jeff

 

check all grounds, these things run rough and can losen even the tightest connection. i fianlly cleaned my ground posts of my BATS on my way home last night because the check engine light came on and the volt meter was climbing and boucing all over.

somes it would start sometimes jiggle the ground. hit a bump and things would pulsate, iding it would flicker steady...

finally grabbed that trusty wrench took the cables off. cleaned if off(very minimal corrosion) snugged her up, and fired like the good ol days and everything was stable.

jiMMy

 

Ground on the alternator i cleaned up and still does this, my battery terminals are not looking so great. Maybe thats the trouble. Where you having bat post ground troubles jimmy?, or alternator ground trouble?

 

BAT post ground on both my BATS didnt look that bad visually but after taking them off and cleaning everythign really good my problem is nulled. jiMMy