Alternator doesnt work right in rain, WHYYYY!!! PLZ Help

Alright I've been having electrical problems with my car for about two weeks now, and noone has been able to help me, so now i need you guys to give me you expert advice. Heres the symptoms:

-When driving in the rain or when doing hard stop and go traffic my vents become louder and if i have lights on they become brighter while accelrating, but when its just idling they go back to normal and sometimes become dimmer than normal. Also my battery will flicker on and off while accelerating too. Usually after driving for about 5-10 min at a constant speed, everything goes back to normal again.

-Also, occasionally when driving in dry conditions, if i go long distances (like 30 or 40 miles) or just drive it hard i get a burning smell coming from wat seems to be my alternator or the belt.

Now i wat most of you are thinking, its either the alternator or the alt belt, but i replace the alt about 2 weeks ago and the belt about 1 week ago, and the alt has been tested twice and both times was charing fine. Has anyone ever had this prob or does anyone have any ideas? Cuz everyone i've taken it too is stumped, which doesnt help me out lol. Any and all help is greatly appreciated, thanx in advance.

Check the tension on the belt and check the pulley for wear.

The belt tension is fine, cuz ive tightened it like 3 times now lol. But i havent looked at the pulley, are you talkin bout the one on the engine or the alt itself? Either way, wat do i look for to see if the pulley is messed up?

ever check to see if your battery is still good ?

The battery is only a month old, and my connectors are clean too.....any more ideas?

how do the battery wires look ?

does that belt run along the a/c compressor as well? if so i would look at that and see if its about to seize, causing any other pulleys that are affecting by the same belt to stop turning.

the other question is, are you having any mechanical problems with the car as well that could be noticed down the line with electrical problems? if you are having problems with one part, that is working fine, go back a step and see what affects that part to try and find the problem. see if there is anything else going on when you are having electrical problems.

Originally posted by branman_crx_guy
Alright I've been having electrical problems with my car for about two weeks now, and noone has been able to help me, so now i need you guys to give me you expert advice. Heres the symptoms:

-When driving in the rain or when doing hard stop and go traffic my vents become louder and if i have lights on they become brighter while accelrating, but when its just idling they go back to normal and sometimes become dimmer than normal. Also my battery will flicker on and off while accelerating too. Usually after driving for about 5-10 min at a constant speed, everything goes back to normal again.

-Also, occasionally when driving in dry conditions, if i go long distances (like 30 or 40 miles) or just drive it hard i get a burning smell coming from wat seems to be my alternator or the belt.

Now i wat most of you are thinking, its either the alternator or the alt belt, but i replace the alt about 2 weeks ago and the belt about 1 week ago, and the alt has been tested twice and both times was charing fine. Has anyone ever had this prob or does anyone have any ideas? Cuz everyone i've taken it too is stumped, which doesnt help me out lol. Any and all help is greatly appreciated, thanx in advance.



You may want to check your wiring harness that runs right underneath your intake manifold, the harness's have been known to rub against the intake manifold brackets causing them to fray and start shorting out on the metal. When you accelerate or brake hard or in the rain you are most likly to have this problem. It can be a bitch to locate exactly were the fray is but I bet that is your problem, good luck!!

may be a diode in the voltage regulator. it may do it on hard stops etc because of load and the problem may get worse when it rains because of moisture fouling with it even more. or if you car has an electrical load detector look into that.

60%+ of alternator problems are either load or voltage regulator related

#1 If you have a yo yo daddy all bass sound system...you'll need a capacitor to regulate the voltage so you don't mess up your alt. or batt.

#2 depending on how you use your car...do you sit and listen to the radio with the engine off a lot? Do you honk your horn and blast your system with the engine off...etc

#3 If you replace your alt. there are a few things (I forget) but just read the directions because if you mess with it a certain way it becomes faulty from charge or something.

#4 Don't tighten your belt too much...you need a moderate amount of give...roughly 4-10mm

#5 It might not be the alt. giving you the problem. It could possibly be your A/C pulley if you have A/C...Try having someone look at the pulleys with the A/C off and then turn it on full blast and see if anything looks funked up in the engine.

#6 If you have poor after market pulleys they might be funked from the tension/stress that your engine puts on the pulleys. If they are super light and are not solid they are week..and tightening the belts might damage the pulleys

#7 it could be your fuel pump is going and not keeping the car at the correct idle...keep it full to sustain the full pumps life esp. if you live in a cold climate

#8 timing of your distributor could be fucked up or missing...not bad enough to knock or detonate but just enough to jerk the RPM's and not give enough power to the accesories