2G Alternator Going Bad?

[fourgsixthree33]

Tonight on my way to bowling, I noticed my headlights flickering sort of like strobes. Real quick flashing. The lights don't comepletly go out or anything. Just flicker ever so slightly.

Then in between games, I went out for my cig breaks as usual. Sat in the car, turned it on, then noticed all my dash lights, gauges lights, head unit, etc were flickering as well.

Sounds like an alternator going bad. I have heard heat kill these things. I also had some lagging issues at slow speeds or up hills. Would a bad alternator contribute to this as well?

 

[airmail96]

My alternator just went out on my Talon. The things that I noticed were my boost gauge lights flickering and being dim, and anything involving the headlights or braking or the seatbelts was like instant drain. Do you still have power steering? If so it could be leaking down onto your alternator.

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[fourgsixthree33]

My alternator just went out on my Talon. The things that I noticed were my boost gauge lights flickering and being dim, and anything involving the headlights or braking or the seatbelts was like instant drain. Do you still have power steering? If so it could be leaking down onto your alternator.

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Yeah, the more accesories I have on (heater, lights, etc.), the less RPM's I read. Which is normal since every single 1G I have owned has done it.

I still have my P/S and it does leak a little. I am leaning more towards the heat generated from the exaust manifold and downpipe cooking the alternator. My exhaust manifold often glows red.

Although I have had many problems with the alternator belt, low RPM's, etc. in the past with the old 1G's, I have never had an alternator fail on me so I am not really sure what happens when one is going bad. The flickering of the lights is a first for me.

 

[Tyeler18]

A simple test is take a volt meter (or logger) and read the battery voltage at idle. If it's below about ~12.5 volts usually your alternator's going bad, but it could still be reading in the right voltage, so this test doesn't prove everything.

 

[fourgsixthree33]

If I took the car to Advance Auto, could they check the alternator without me taking it off?

 

[Tyeler18]

Not really. Only using a volt meter.

It's really not hard to take off. My 1g takes me literally 15 minutes to pull, 2g isn't so much fun though, but still easy. If it's your first time expect 45 mins to get it off.

 

[Guzman08]

they can test it with it on or with out it on.. is the cel on?

 

[91gsxnoob]

i wasn't aware they could test it with it on, but all those symptoms definitely sound like an alternator. Start with taking that off (or testing it on the car if your parts store can) then go from there.

 

[Tyeler18]

they can test it with it on or with out it on.. is the cel on?

They can't load test it with it on the car.

 

[whyadsm]

Autozone and oreilly can test the alternator while it still in the car. Or try pulling the negative battery cable while the car is still running. If its stop than its the alternator. I had a bad experience with this issue.

 

[fourgsixthree33]

Yea I know it doesn't take more than 15 mins to take off. I just don't feel like freezing my ass off . I have no way to get to the parts store unless I take it off in the parking lot at Advance. As for testing it with it on the car, I have heard different things but I don't think they can do the actual test without taking it off.

Would a bad altternator cause lagging issues? Like up hills or under alot of load? Slow speeds, etc. The car simply won't go at all in overdrive. Unless I am doing 60mph+.

 

[sandiballs287]

so there is several ways to check for a bad alt.
- with the engine running take off the neg lead to the battery or is it the positive; i forget but try both; and if the engine shuts off usually means u have a bad alt
- take a meter and check your voltage on the alt and the battery positive side. should read 12-14v.
- if your driving and your alt is not giving enough charge the car will die after about 20-30 min with a fully charged battery.also depending on how much of a load oyur putting such as subs.

check to see if your belt is tight enough.
get your battery tested and alternator tested it can be done while in the car. BUT in order to eliminate the batt
to be at fault you should take it out and get it tested.

 

[airmail96]

The car not going into overdrive sounds like a tranny problem. When were your fluids last checked?

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[Tyeler18]

Please do NOT pull the negative terminal off. This was a trick for older cars that didn't have the sensitive electronics that these cars have now. Advance can test to see if it's CHARGING, but they cannot load test the car without having the alternator put on their load tester (which requires taking it off).

 

[fourgsixthree33]

so there is several ways to check for a bad alt.
- with the engine running take off the neg lead to the battery or is it the positive; i forget but try both; and if the engine shuts off usually means u have a bad alt
- take a meter and check your voltage on the alt and the battery positive side. should read 12-14v.
- if your driving and your alt is not giving enough charge the car will die after about 20-30 min with a fully charged battery.also depending on how much of a load oyur putting such as subs.

check to see if your belt is tight enough.
get your battery tested and alternator tested it can be done while in the car. BUT in order to eliminate the batt
to be at fault you should take it out and get it tested.

The belt is about perfect. We just retimed the timing belt a few weeks ago (took the timing belt off) which obviously requires you to take all the belts off.

And btw, there is no CEL. I I can guarrentee the battery is good. My car has never died or anything. So, maybe the alternator is in the process of going bad? It isn't completly dead since I can drive it at any distance with no problems.

Please do NOT pull the negative terminal off. This was a trick for older cars that didn't have the sensitive electronics that these cars have now. Advance can test to see if it's CHARGING, but they cannot load test the car without having the alternator put on their load tester (which requires taking it off).

Haha. Yea. I was definitely not going to do that.

The car not going into overdrive sounds like a tranny problem. When were your fluids last checked?

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Let me rephrase this. It goes into overdrive. Giving it throttle has little effect on the car unless at a higher speed. Like when I was hauling ass tonight on the way home up a large hill with two lanes for the traffic going in my direction, I went about 80mph before I put it in overdrive. Car sailed up the hill with not losing too much speed. But say if I am cruising at 40mph through town and try to use over drive, giving it throttle will not speed the car up much at all.

Hope that made some sense.

 

[eligst21]

Are there any lights that come on the dash? Like the battery light and brake light? Dont know if 1g's have these. On my 2g i had both those lights come on and it was a sign my alternator going out. Turned out it was bad. put a new one on and it ran perfect. I also felt a little lag on my car with pulls.

 

[fourgsixthree33]

Are there any lights that come on the dash? Like the battery light and brake light? Dont know if 1g's have these. On my 2g i had both those lights come on and it was a sign my alternator going out. Turned out it was bad. put a new one on and it ran perfect. I also felt a little lag on my car with pulls.

I do have those lights on the dash but they aren't lit up. The only time the brake light comes on is when the ebrake is on. Or when I bump the ebrake handle with my long ass legs while driving .

Man, this is so weird. It's a little after 5am and I just made a cig run. The lights are pulsating. Mainly the headlights because they are so noticable when driving at night. But all the lights are doing it. Including the tail lights. When I pulled back into the garage, I was revving it up. The lights get brighter with the RPM's.

 

[eligst21]

I do have those lights on the dash but they aren't lit up. The only time the brake light comes on is when the ebrake is on. Or when I bump the ebrake handle with my long ass legs while driving .

Man, this is so weird. It's a little after 5am and I just made a cig run. The lights are pulsating. Mainly the headlights because they are so noticable when driving at night. But all the lights are doing it. Including the tail lights. When I pulled back into the garage, I was revving it up. The lights get brighter with the RPM's.

Yeah sounds like the alternator. because on my car those lights came on and when i was driving i would give it gas and my headlights would shut off completely along with my radio and such. but i replaced the alternator and its been working great. pretty sure your alternators out.

 

[fourgsixthree33]

Like I said, they aren't on. But I do have them. But they aren't on.

 

[eligst21]

yeah my guess its the alternator.

 

[Tyeler18]

Do you have access to a volt meter? Just run the car and put the + and - leads on the battery and read the voltage, then have a friend rev it up and read the voltage. Get back to us with that. Sounds like the alternator is toasted. If you want a good one I think I've got 2 or 3 1g alternators that have tested good. They came off parts cars so I haven't run them on any car, but I had them bench tested at advance.

 

[fourgsixthree33]

Do you have access to a volt meter? Just run the car and put the + and - leads on the battery and read the voltage, then have a friend rev it up and read the voltage. Get back to us with that. Sounds like the alternator is toasted. If you want a good one I think I've got 2 or 3 1g alternators that have tested good. They came off parts cars so I haven't run them on any car, but I had them bench tested at advance.

I don't have one here but I will go to Advance and have them check it. I am taking a little road trip tonight so I most likely won't get back to you with the readings until Sunday. I also PMed you about the Alternators.

CEL came on yesterday! Ughh..

 

[lcrivers816]

for sure the alternator

 

[fourgsixthree33]

I am going to put an NA alternator on it Monday and see what happens. THen I will get a new one. And most likely will be using that lifetime warrenty monthly =P

 

[fourgsixthree33]

I have a couple vids coming. I would also like to address something. I did a little experiment. Originaly, my days plans consisted of swapping my alternator out with an NA alternator. The NA alternator became useless after I tried to take off the tensioner. A piece of the alternator snapped off. So I wouldn't be able to put a tensioner on it. I then decided to tighten up the belt even though it wasn't loose. I tightened the belt, and surprisingly the squeal was gone. But, the flickering dash lights problem still existed.

I got out the battery charger and charged the battery for about 5 minutes while I picked up all my tools. Started the car, and noticed a significant change in throttle response. I dissconnected the battery charger and went around my driveway which is an oval shape. Again, throttle response was crazy better. I then proceded to go down the road. After about 5 minutes or so, the increased throttle response slowly dissapeared.

If my alternator is indeed bad, I found out that the "lagging" "poor throttle response" that I thought was caused by a boost leak, is caused by the bad alternator. I just wanted to address this because when others have problems thinking they have a boost leak, poor plugs, etc. could in fact be from a poor alternator. Very weird.

VIDEO- http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=478578917962&saved