electrical pulses when driving

[civic eater]

I have recently purchased a 96 gst and when you drive or idle the entire electrical system pulses.
I have replaced the alternator, the battery and checked the wiring and the grounds and did not find any problems. Can someone give me some ideas to try and fix this problem.

 

[RS-RGS-T]

what kind of pulses, power loss? what kind of alarm and stereo do you have? system really powerfull? alot of electronics hooked up?

 

[civic eater]

There is wiring for a system but I have not hooked one up. When I start the car and drive the entire electrical system pulses everything you can hear the fuel pump going in and out all the lights dim like a system is on but there is nothing hooked up. You can feel it when you drive the car almost hesitates.

 

[eboy0]

Check your positive cable for any corrosion, especially around the bracket part that connects to the positive end on the battery.
Also, what are you idling at?

 

[civic eater]

There is some idle surge at times but it mostly idles at 800 to 900 sometimes 1100. I have checked the cables and conections I can not find any signs of corrosion or a bad connection.

 

[Locke]

You mention there is wiring for a system. Check that the would-be-amp-power-cable isn't grounding against the body intermittently. If it has a fuse, pull it, whether it is the problem or not.

 

[luv2rallye]

Still sounds like a bad alternator. Auto parts stores are notorious for selling bad "new or refurb" alternators. And they do an extremely poor test of them (only output voltage). A proper and complete test can only be done by an alternator/starter repair shop. But first do the following tests yourself: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?p=151165661#post151165661.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Yea, it sounds like the charging system is keeping up to task. How much voltage are you seeing at the battery.


That are you got a SERIOUS short.

 

[civic eater]

I looked at the system wiring to make sure its not grounding out anywhere and I did not find any problem. It sounds like the car has an aftermaket fuel pump could there be a short with that if its not wired correctly. I will check the voltage on the battery and see what those numbers are. Thanks for the help you guys are a great

 

[Xionic]

I have the same problem in my 95- I've tried the same things you have, and even installed a volt gauge as well. The gauge will read from 13-14 volts- so the alternator is doing it's job and still creates the same sort of pulse effect. I'm completely dumbfounded, so I've pretty much just learned to live with it, though, I'd love to figure out what's going on.

 

[Pauseflash]

Well, your looking at the right things, and the wrong things at the same time.



When it pulses like that, it's usally not a voltage drop. It's a current drop. There is a bunch of threads on the subject.

This is a different problem but almost the same check http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259064


I drew a crappy little picture how to check for draw. You have to be extra careful because you'll be checking with the car on, but the multimeter still in line. You have to find out how many amps your car is pulling.

The thing is about an alternator is, there are actually different points that "create" your electricity by using magnetic fields. We call this electro-magnetisim. Now, If one of these points, is not putting out enough current (amps) you would see a drop like that.

So the thing would be to watch for on the test is for any large variance in amps. The beauty of this test, is it will tell you, if it's your charging/battery system or the car it self. A huge decrease in amps when the system "dims" would tell you that the alternator is not putting out enough current in a certian point. A large increase in amps, would mean that something inside your car is pulling to much of a draw for the alternator. Either way, I suggest upgrading, and getting a higher output alternator if not a mitsu replacement. Autzone and other knock of brands, for the most part are refurbs. And They loose tolerence over time if the copper inside them is not wound correctly.


Point I'm saying, Is you will most likely see good voltages all day, because voltage really isn't what is giving a lot of things power, it's the current at what voltages are applied.



Example: Stick your tounge on a 9v battery, it stings, stick that same tounge on a 6.5v flashlight battery, and well... You'll see what it is current really does

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Ya, I'm gonna take his word on this one. I've read through my multi-meter manual, and he is in line with what it says, execpt The Flash here is filling in the details.

 

[civic eater]

It was a bad alternator
Stupid advance autoparts garbage