I have a 90 DA. I had a really ghetto headunit that was causing aton of electrical problems so I replaced that with a brand new one. Replaced the battery. My battery light flickers/turns on at idle.. Also my idle is very jumpy but only sometimes from around 900-1700 revving at idle... The battery light turns on sometimes at 2000 rpms and lower and sometimes only at idle.. Also It goes off whenever no matter if I have all accessories on at 2000 plus.. Its been doing this for about a week. before and after the new battery. I have about a year old alternator reman. from autozone in there... so im hoping/assuming its not that but I suppose it is.. Today for example I drove to my friends house (3 miles) and picked her up np at all no battery light, ran fantastic, perfect idle.. Then 2 hours later I drive her home.. very bad even at 2000 the battery light turns on and very revvy/jumpy idle... Lights however didn't dim.. then earlier I drove to school (8miles) battery light and funny idle.. then 1hr later on the way home from class I had no problems at all no light/bad idle.. Before I bought the new battery 2days ago is was doing the same thing.. And one night the whole car started dieing. lights flickerd radio turned off ect ect... so then i bought a new battery and a new stereo.. didnt help... I assume that its the alternator.. before I go buy a new one could it be anything like a ground or a fuse?

 

Also my car (rarely) doesnt start... it wont even crank... but u just sit there and keep clickn away and it will finally start... if not a pop start always does the trick.. but ive checked and the voltage was fine when it wasnt starting out of curiosity.. so it wasn't not starting bc of low power..
Idk if that has anything to do with it... The engine ground looks a little rusty/shitty
Could it be a slipping belt?
Or a bad ground/electrical problem?
None of the lights/radio dim or go out when the battery light is on.. and the idle is smooth when it regulates and isnt jumpy.. it never feels like its going to die.. but the seat buckles move slowly and so do the whippers
and putting more load on.. full heat/defog/radio/fogs... doesnt make it any worse.. if its the alternator i thought load would kill it..

 

check the main ground wire to the trans

 

Check your grounds.

When did this start? As soon as you swapped the alt? Why did you swap the alt?

Make sure the alt is making power, and that all the power is making it to the battery. Advance Auto can do this for you.

 

I got the alt 9months ago.. i know it can be the alt... it just has different symptoms than the last time the alt went out. like aton of load doesnt make the car die... it definently did when my alt went bad last year

 

UPDATE: I replaced the positive wire... still same symptoms
... I guess all thats left is annnother alternator.. wow


Modified by bennyDA at 10:49 AM 12/12/2007