I think my alternator is shot on my 01 dc2 gsr. my car will idle at 2-400rpm, engine wont die tho, and my digital voltage readout shows that its running at 12.4 volts. seems to happen only at idle. and when im at idle, ill rev to 4k rpm, then it will shoot back up to 14v and then ill let go on the throttle it will go back to 12 volts. problem doesent seem to occur when im driving since it shows 14v. this happens maybe every 1/3 times i stop. the other times i idle at 600rpm showing 14v. problem is slowly getting worse. is my alternator shot? a direct replacement of my alternator fix the problem?

 

Yeah, this is an old thread but I am having similar problems with my idle... The #1 thing that points me to my alternator is when i'm idling too low (600-650 rpms) and I play with either one of my power windows or sunroof the idle will raise to 750 and stay there. Anybody have any ideas??

 

Nobody has any ideas??

 

you could always do a continuity test on the alternator and see if thats your problem. if youve never replaced it and you have 100k on the car you might as well save yourself some time and just replace it.

 

1. Check ur alt. belt make sure its not loose!! 2. Check your fuses 3. Make sure you have power to the main wire on the alt. ( the big red one +) .and ground to the alt. casting!

 

doubt it's the alternator. If the alternator was going bad it wouldn't produce 14v. Seems to me that because of your low idle the alt. can't produce the 12.6+ volts that you need. I would clean the TB and the IAC. and see if the idle improves. Doesn't hurt to make sure you have good cable connections either. hope that helps.

 

I have already cleaned my throttle body and IACV. All the connections seem good. Don't get me wrong, my battery does get charged, but what doesn't make any sense is how my power windows have an effect on correcting my idle when its idling low. When the power window motor strains to move the window when it is fully up, the idle corrects. Doesn't that seem related to the charging system? Voltage regulator?

 

same problem. let me know if you fixed it.