My car does not charge during idle w/ load(lights, defroster, wipers on etc.) If I turn them off it charges but if im in the rain w/ my wipers and headlights on in traffic then my car starts to die. Battery is good and holds a charge, replaced alternator w/ autolite one about a month ago. alt. belt is tight. Sometimes I see my batt light go on for 1 sec while driving then turns off. It just doesnt charge while at idle w/ a load on it. But if i start moving then it charges. any info appreicated thanks. no codes so it cant be the eld right?

 

 

Check all your grounds and make sure theres good connections. I had a similar problem, turns out my valve cover to chassis ground was bad.

 

did the symptoms stop briefly after you replaced the alternator?

 

yeah it was fine for as month. I just sanded down all the grounds today and still nothing.
no eld light so that doesnt seem to be the problem. my valve cover ground looks kinda crappy though but i doubt it is that, Ill try to replace it anyways. No blown fuses on No.14 or anywhere. im thinking I have a faulty alternator b/c i never had grounding issues. batt is 12v and when car is on its at 13-14ish, but only when im idle and turn on the lights it goes down pretty low. Ive also heard of parts stores giving out alternators that last only a month or less.

 

I had the same problem with mine when i had my stock motor, the lights would dim when i passed 6krpm, and the radio would die too. Replaced everything, only to find out that the new alternator i got was a bad reman. Did you get the alternator tested when you bought it?

 

No, but it held up fine for about a month. I dont want to get another horror story and have to keep swapping them out every month so I ordered a highoutput one from ebay.
If my current alternator is bad, hopefully I can return it. The ebay one says 100% new so I hope they are right.

 

got the high output alt in and it did not do ****. I think ill have to go to the shop for this one. im stumped. another thing is that my idle is really low and i cant bring it up. it just stays at 500 all day and even lower when i turn my headlights on. I hope somebody out there can shed some light on this issue.

 

 

found the problem, it was the alternator. whats the chance of getting 2 bad alternators from 2 different places? tested my first bad one and turned out bad got a replacement and replaced my high output one w/ it. now I need to test the high output to see if its good or not.