Strange electrical problem (1gb auto AWD)

[sc2_ct]

Okay, I searched on this but didn't find anything (so many unrelated symptoms it was hard to filter through them all).

Here's the problem that I encountered tonight. On my way out to pick someone up I noticed that I had four lights that were coming on dimly (one that looked like a little house on the left, the battery, the A/T temp and another one (can't recall)). This was only happening when decelerating and under 25, or when at an idle. If I manually switched to neutral it would also do it. I proceeded from there under the assumtion that they were indicators that were sensitive to voltage which made since if the battery were dying or there were a loose connection to the battery, since when under load the alternator would be delivering the juice. I tightened down the battery cables but the problem didn't go away.

At this point I wondered whether it was a problem with my amp wiring, so I pulled the fuse and disconnected the ground and still no help. About this time I was almost back to my house, and my headlights and dash lights dimmed dramatically, and my CD player started cutting out. A couple miles later I noticed that the automatic transmission was having trouble shifting (I assume due to low voltage in the trans controller). A bit later on the idle started getting erratic at a light.

I didn't have a volt meter where I was going so I can't check that, but this doesn't seem like any alternator problem that I've had before (usually the lights dim and the charging system light would come on without the other symptoms in my experience).

Possibly unrelated (as I did start hearing a squeel at about the same time) my ABS light came on and it would start to intermittantly take over when braking normally on dry ground, but I assume that is just a matter of doing my brake pads tomorrow. I'm just throwing this in in the event that it turns out to be related.

Right before I pulled into the driveway the problem seemed to go away for a while and the headlights and dash lights came back and the stereo came back on, but I still tightened everything down some more and took it for another test drive around the block and the problem came back mid-way through it.

Anyway, this doesn't seem like any battery or alternator problem that I've encountered before and since I'm not that experienced in troubleshooting DSMs I figured I'd throw this out there and see if anyone could shed some light on the situation.

To recap the vehicle this is happening on, it is a 1993 Eagle Talon TSi AWD with automatic transmission and no modifications at all (I just got the car a week ago and just got my registration and emissions out of the way today).

Any insight would be much appreciated, and if I missed something in my search, please let me know.

 

[Rick4g63]

Failing alternator and regulator, poorly secured battery terminal.
Remote case: ECU Failing.

 

[AWDPetmitsu]

Check your crank pulley for separation.

 

[92awddsm]

Sounds like the alt is dying but check and make sure the positive battery terminal isnt grounding out on the bottom of the hood. If not, it is probably the altenator.

 

[sc2_ct]

Oh, forgot the follow-up on this. As the above posters said, it was in fact my alternator going out. After replacing the alternator and my belts the dash lights are normal and all the strange problems are gone.

For anyone searching on this problem, I might as well run down what I did.

I reviewed this vfaq, and it was fine as far as it went, but I actually used a different approach.

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/wayback/BradBauer/electrical/alt.html

Rather than pulling all the belts and the water pump pullies, I used a bolt, nut and a lock washer to bolt a 10mm and a 12mm combination wrench together at the round end so that I could reach the upper alternator bracket bolt that is located behind the water pump. If you can find a long 12mm wrench this shouldn't be necessary, but the standard craftsman 12mm wrenches just are not long enough to reach easily. In other words you want a 12mm wrench that is 10 or more inches long or you'll be swearing a lot.

Also, when you disconnect the harness and + post, you might pop this additional little cable off -- it actually connects to the power steering pump. If you do disconnect it, here's the thread where it was explained to me just where it goes:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174143

Other than that, the process was pretty straight-forward.

 

[Maniacmav]

Sounds like the alt is dying but check and make sure the positive battery terminal isnt grounding out on the bottom of the hood. If not, it is probably the altenator.

My battery keeps grounding to the hood of the car, the battery is tied down with the stock tiedown bar and the terminals are all the way on. how do you keep this from happening?

 

[BUCK]

Any insight would be much appreciated, and if I missed something in my search, please let me know.

Only the P/S leaks that killed the ALT to begin with - Welcome to the Boards~!