I started my drive in the morning with my low beams on when suddenly they began to flicker and dim until they shut off. This was strange because all my interior lights (Cluster, Clock, Radio ...ex) were still working including tail lights and corner lights. So I turned on my High Beams on which were working perfectly fine but they began to dim a little but never shut off but when I got into a higher rpm they got bright again. What could possibly of caused this and how can I fix it.

P.S.

The alternator is brand new and so is the battery.
I also took the liberty to check 3 relays located under the hood by the intake box/passenger head light. 2 of the relays (the pair in front of the battery)were dead. The one relay that runs paralel to the fender was still good. I replaced the two bad relays from a junk yark but the low beams still dont come on. I am starting to suspect that it could be the light swich but if it where bad would the other lights go on? or would it just be isolated to the low beam? or are the pair of relays I replace the bad ones with bad them selves. strangly enought my horn now works after replacing the relays. P.S. the horn only worked when the car was moving but now it works all the time?

By the way does anybody know specifically where the head light relays are located beacause im just guessing it is one of the side by side pair infront of the battery. thanks

 

Did you check the fuses underneath the steering column? There are fuses for the headlights there...

The dimming and then brightening at higher RPMs sounds like an alternator issue. That's exactly what mine did for a month or so until it died. If you have the time you can disconnect it, and take it to autozone or somethinga nd they'll test it for free.

Do you have a check engine light? If there is something wrong w/ the Electronic Load Detector that ups the idle to compensate for your lights being on and stuff, it'll usually give you a code.

 

I took it to a car electrician this morning he explained to me that an alternator is suppose to pump out roughly 12volts. After he tested my alternator it turned out mine was pumping out 14.41 volts way to much and it was overloading **** everywhere hense the low beams burning out. I really dont know why I didnt catch this before seeing how I never had this problem before installing a new alternator 5 days ago duh!!!!!! so im removing the alternator and taking it back to pep-boys for a different one sucks major *** but hey it only cost me two sets of sylvania silver stars to find out (*******!)

P.S. be carefull when buying a bosch alternator read the yellow paper it comes with it contains info on how many volts ex... it produces my paper says it produces 14.41 volts aka defective but the ******* still put it out for sell this time im checking the yellow paper there before I bring it home with me.

 

Heh, you're wrong. An altenator should not be putting out roughly 12 volts. It's actually SUPPOSED to put out anywhere from 13.8 to 14.6 volts - and that's a fact. I'm not sure who told you the 12 volt figure, but your battery doesn't even go that low after a charge... Batteries stay at 12.4-12.9 when the car is off, if an alternator is putting out 12 volts, how can it charge the battery?

It can't. The yellow paper that came with your bosch alternator is correct, the alternator is working fine, the problem is with your car. You need to check your fuses and connections, your alternator is working fine. 14.4 is healthy but just a tad high. Mine's putting out about 14.1 currently.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91ef8sir &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I took it to a car electrician this morning he explained to me that an alternator is suppose to pump out roughly 12volts. After he tested my alternator it turned out mine was pumping out 14.41 volts way to much and it was overloading **** everywhere hense the low beams burning out. I really dont know why I didnt catch this before seeing how I never had this problem before installing a new alternator 5 days ago duh!!!!!! so im removing the alternator and taking it back to pep-boys for a different one sucks major *** but hey it only cost me two sets of sylvania silver stars to find out (*******!)

P.S. be carefull when buying a bosch alternator read the yellow paper it comes with it contains info on how many volts ex... it produces my paper says it produces 14.41 volts aka defective but the ******* still put it out for sell this time im checking the yellow paper there before I bring it home with me.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Don't ever take it back to that guy. Its suppose to put out 14.41 volts.

 

i concur, 14.x volts is normal.

 

Definitely normal. Mine put out 14.1XX when it was tested.

 

you guys are right I miss understod the electrician what he actually told me was between 14 and 15 volts with a max of 14.something but the alternator wasnt working properly. pepboys did give me a faulty alternator because the regulator was busted and it was letting my alternator put out more volts at higher rpms then it was suppose to somewhere in the area of 15 to 16 volts or so and when pepboys test alternators their machines test them at low rpm's something like under 3000 or so. hense it was overloading my electrical sistem causing my low beam bulbs to burn out along with my head light relays. they were a little hard headed as far as giving me a replacement because it keept reading fine on their machine but when they tested it out on my car it read fine under low rpm's but when I gave it some gas it read an abnormal over charge past 5000 rpm but in the end they gave me a new one which works perfecly fine and I took my car back to the electrician and according to his instruments and along with pepboys this alternator is running perfect even at high rpm because it doesnt over charge thus the regulator is good. I asked their manager if I could get a pair of sylvania silver stars for free seing as how their faulty alternator blew mine out and of course they said no! *******!. Oh yeah I almost forgot my battary was so overcharged that it began to spew water and got incredibely hot but after I got it tested it was still good and is now charging correctly. Well thanks for your guys insight.

P.S. the alternator was making a wind chime type noise when it was shaken almost as if something was loose inside it they suspected it was a lose brush what do you guys think?

 

Dunno about the noise, but you really need to get some baking-soda-and-water solution on all the areas where the "water" from the battery spilled. You'll see it foam and foam and foam. Keep putting more on until it stops foaming, then flush the area with water for a while.

With luck, this will keep the battery acid from eating part of your car--or at least letting rust get a head start!

--DD

 

thanks