| Author | Message | ||
     A.R. Greenberg New User Username: bergxu Post Number: 5 Registered: 2-2012 |
Gentlemen, Greetings from The Colonies. Been trying to get to the bottom of a charging issue with my 1990 Turbo R. Here is a rundown of the symptoms; 1. When first started from cold and no accessories on, the alternator was giving a good 14 or so volts at the battery. As things warmed up and you began to use accessories, the voltage would drop quite severely, and at hot idle with A/C, headlamps and aux fans running, I was seeing 12.8 to 13 volts at the most, however the gauge was barely registering anything. 2. I whipped the alternator off and had it overhauled with a 140A stator, new voltage regulator and "avalanche" diodes. Put it all back together and found still the same charging symptoms, and I know that it's dropping to an unacceptable level at hot idle because the CHECK ENGINE lamp will then intermittently flash, indicating to me that the juice is low enough to begin causing these sorts of symptoms now. Once on the gas, the CHECK ENGINE lamp no longer flashes and the voltage comes back up to 13.5 or so. The battery hasn't ever died, and the car always cranks over at a good fast speed, so presumably I'm not driving the car long enough to draw the battery down enough to kill it, but I'm concerned that if I ever get into a situation where I'm stuck at idle at night in a big traffic jam that I'll run the battery down and the car will die. I did remove and clean the eyelets of the ground strap on the right hand engine mount, but I need some direction on where else to scrutinize and clean/tighten as necessary before I hand it over to an auto electrician. Oh, and the other thing I should mention is that now I get the red battery warning symbol popping up on the DIP every so often, even though the battery is being charged (barely), but it never appeared before having the alternator overhauled. Could the new voltage regulator be the cause of this? I spoke to Rusty at Albers (Bentley Zionsville) and he said they used to overhaul alternators there but quit because if something wasn't "just right" internally, it would play havoc with the DIP, which now, coincidentally, seems to be what's happening. Oh, and how often do the voltmeters themselves go bad? Mine is indeed reading low as compared to what my Fluke shows when connected directly to the battery. Any help would be greatly appreciated, this is rather frustrating! Cheers, Aaron | ||
| Michael Hicks Experienced User Username: bentleyman22 Post Number: 38 Registered: 12-2011 |
whear are you taking your readings from ? Alt or Battery ? | ||
| A.R. Greenberg New User Username: bergxu Post Number: 6 Registered: 2-2012 |
Michael, Readings come directly from the battery with my Fluke meter hooked up. The gauge, however, barely registers, even though I see 13V at the battery, the gauge indicates practically nothing... | ||
| Michael Hicks Experienced User Username: bentleyman22 Post Number: 39 Registered: 12-2011 |
Take all readings from the Alt only and report back Michael Make shour the belt is Tight | ||
| A.R. Greenberg New User Username: bergxu Post Number: 8 Registered: 2-2012 |
Michael, Ok, will do. Belt is tight. | ||
| Daniel Diewerge Experienced User Username: didi13109 Post Number: 28 Registered: 11-2009 |
Hello, I would be very interested in the outcome as I have a similar problem. I have the Motorola Alternator, also had it rebuilt. It delivers a rock stable 14 Volt at the Alternator and the battery posts. On various place inside the car I sometimes only get 11.5 Volts or even less…this causes all kind of corollary electrical problems. What I did is check/ cleaned/ greased all electrical connection where the main wires enter the (connectors under the right fan motor) interior. I also cleaned all the fuse holders (glass fuses). The problem remains the same…. |
