93 Metro Electrical???
Mushijobah
12-08-2005, 01:10 AM
Hi
I was driving from mansfield ohio to columbus (80 miles) and i noticed my lights dimming a bit. Well it got bad. The car started running sluglishly and I barely made it into an advance auto parts. The car seems to have a battery or alternator problem. If i let it sit idle for a while, it will charge back up a bit...But when i start driving it again, it starts to bog down and act funny....Is this common, and what may it be? The check engine light also came on briefly when I gave it a lot of gas trying to get into the parking lot....probably a misfire?
Thanks
Kyle
I was driving from mansfield ohio to columbus (80 miles) and i noticed my lights dimming a bit. Well it got bad. The car started running sluglishly and I barely made it into an advance auto parts. The car seems to have a battery or alternator problem. If i let it sit idle for a while, it will charge back up a bit...But when i start driving it again, it starts to bog down and act funny....Is this common, and what may it be? The check engine light also came on briefly when I gave it a lot of gas trying to get into the parking lot....probably a misfire?
Thanks
Kyle
BeoWolfe
12-08-2005, 10:02 AM
Check your belt and belt tension. If its too loose then its more likely to slip around the crank pully with more rpms. It has a better chance of grabbing (thus spinning the alternator) at a lower rpm. This would explain why it seems to be charging at an idle yet lossing electrical power while driving.
I would ignor the check engine light until your charging problem is fixed as low voltage can cause any number of codes and reasons for the check engine light to come on.
I would ignor the check engine light until your charging problem is fixed as low voltage can cause any number of codes and reasons for the check engine light to come on.
Mushijobah
12-08-2005, 09:21 PM
well it did not give a very high voltage reading so I am assuming it is the alt or like you said, the belt. How do I go about tightening it?
frets14
12-10-2005, 08:53 PM
I once had a similar problem and it turned out to be a badly corroded connection where the alternator feeds the power to the battery thru the fuse block located on the wheel well right behind the battery. Hope that helps.
DieInterim
12-11-2005, 12:31 AM
well it did not give a very high voltage reading so I am assuming it is the alt or like you said, the belt. How do I go about tightening it?
I would check to see if you are getting power from your field wire; if there is no power to excite the field windings there will be no output from the alternator.
Now I did not read that "The Charge Indicator light came on", you said "my lights became dim". I just looked at the wiring schematics and if I interpreted it correctly, if your dash warning light is burnt out the alternator might not charge.
So, when you turn the switch to the on position does the charge light illuminate?
HTH,
Blake
I would check to see if you are getting power from your field wire; if there is no power to excite the field windings there will be no output from the alternator.
Now I did not read that "The Charge Indicator light came on", you said "my lights became dim". I just looked at the wiring schematics and if I interpreted it correctly, if your dash warning light is burnt out the alternator might not charge.
So, when you turn the switch to the on position does the charge light illuminate?
HTH,
Blake
Mushijobah
12-11-2005, 11:14 PM
Yes, it illuminates......I just went out to check....guess what...IT STARTED! WTF.......Is there any chance cars could get a charge sometimes and not get one another time? Jesus i duno..Could I be getting a bad connection sometime and sometime not? Could a dirty air filter or older oil be the problem of inefficiency? I just dont know guys...
Metro Mighty Mouse
12-13-2005, 06:15 PM
Yes, it illuminates......I just went out to check....guess what...IT STARTED! WTF.......Is there any chance cars could get a charge sometimes and not get one another time? Jesus i duno..Could I be getting a bad connection sometime and sometime not? Could a dirty air filter or older oil be the problem of inefficiency? I just dont know guys...
And this is why electrical work is sooooo expensive to have done.
There have been some good suggestions here, The two most likely causes are a bad connection somewhere not letting the power flow, or a short stealing the power. I would start by disconnecting the wires at the alternator one at a time, clean the end with fine sandpaper or a wire brush, trace it to it's opposite end and do the same there. Make sure your cable ends are clean and there doesn't appear to be any corrosion travelling down the cable. I've had cables with really bad corrosion running around 3 to 4 inches down the cable and when it's like that you're going to have charging system issues.
I prefer to have a guage in the charging system so I have an idea when there seems to be a problem. The ammeter is more complicated to install but the information is somewhat more useful than a voltmeter. With a voltmeter you will see as the battery is discharging the volts declining, if the alternator is working the volts should remain stable. With the ammeter you see where the power to run the vehicle is coming from. when you start the car it swings negative as the battery powers the starter and ignition etc. After starting the car it should swing positive as it recharges the battery and then slowly return to approximately the middle when the battery is charged. With the guage you can see when the alternator isn't working and you are running on battery power instead of the alternator. It makes it much easier to diagnose where the problem is coming from, you can see if turning on the lights is overloading the system, indicating that there may be high resistance in the charging system or a high draw in the lighting circuit. The alternators in these cars are just strong enough to get the job done and any issue could make it incapable of keeping up during the heavier usage times. At a normal idle with the lights on, foot on the brake, turn signal on, and normal items on inside the car you will be running on battery power, but if you bring the RPM's up to around 1000 it should shift over to charging, if not you know there's a problem. With the guage installed you can see at what point you are pulling too much power for the alternator to supply and attempt to adjust your usage accordingly untill you can sort out what the cause is.
GOOD LUCK!!
And this is why electrical work is sooooo expensive to have done.
There have been some good suggestions here, The two most likely causes are a bad connection somewhere not letting the power flow, or a short stealing the power. I would start by disconnecting the wires at the alternator one at a time, clean the end with fine sandpaper or a wire brush, trace it to it's opposite end and do the same there. Make sure your cable ends are clean and there doesn't appear to be any corrosion travelling down the cable. I've had cables with really bad corrosion running around 3 to 4 inches down the cable and when it's like that you're going to have charging system issues.
I prefer to have a guage in the charging system so I have an idea when there seems to be a problem. The ammeter is more complicated to install but the information is somewhat more useful than a voltmeter. With a voltmeter you will see as the battery is discharging the volts declining, if the alternator is working the volts should remain stable. With the ammeter you see where the power to run the vehicle is coming from. when you start the car it swings negative as the battery powers the starter and ignition etc. After starting the car it should swing positive as it recharges the battery and then slowly return to approximately the middle when the battery is charged. With the guage you can see when the alternator isn't working and you are running on battery power instead of the alternator. It makes it much easier to diagnose where the problem is coming from, you can see if turning on the lights is overloading the system, indicating that there may be high resistance in the charging system or a high draw in the lighting circuit. The alternators in these cars are just strong enough to get the job done and any issue could make it incapable of keeping up during the heavier usage times. At a normal idle with the lights on, foot on the brake, turn signal on, and normal items on inside the car you will be running on battery power, but if you bring the RPM's up to around 1000 it should shift over to charging, if not you know there's a problem. With the guage installed you can see at what point you are pulling too much power for the alternator to supply and attempt to adjust your usage accordingly untill you can sort out what the cause is.
GOOD LUCK!!
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