Hi, all of a sudden I have a lumpy idle and surging lights problem. Idle is lumpy and bounces about 100rpm back and forth and a little to low as well.
My lights continuously surge brighter....dimmer.......
Revs up great but still have surging lights
compression 162 168 166 159
when i take the oil cap of, there is sputtering pressure coming out and can hear it
cap and rotor, plug wires and fuel filter have been replaced fairly recently
No CELs
car bone stock 1998 Integra B18B with 70k miles

Do you guys have any ideas?
Any help is greatly appreciated

 

UPDATE

I have been playing around and think it is the alternator. When I unplug the alternator, the car seams the run great. Do I need to replace the whole alternator or can I replace something?

 

Yes it's the alternator, that is exactly the problem I just fixed.

 

Alternator has a shorted diode causing AC voltage to feedback into the system. replace the entire alt and your problems will disappear.

 

UPDATE.
I have been away for a week and just got home to try and fix my problem. I bought a used alternator and I have the same problem.
I then used a multimeter across the battery terminals. 12.6 with car off
car on it briefly stayed at 14.2 or so then went nuts jumping from 9-18v

So then i disconnected the alternator plug and the same thing was happening with the voltmeter
What else can cause erratic voltage except the alternator?
Am I not testing correctly? Any help will be seriously appreciated