Hello again,

I have a 1993 Acura vigor which is not charging properly.


This all started when I was driving at night, had the lights on and the stereo
going, The lights started to dim and the gauges just bottomed out though the car
still was able to move it was not moving very fast. so I had to be towed back
home. Battery was dead ( its a yellow top optima ). So I got it charged and it
tested good. Checked the alternator and it was not charging, ( it was just
rebuilt a year ago so this was weird). I pulled the alternator and it tested
fine ( had it tested by two places including the one that rebuilt the alternator
and it tested just fine) then re-installed it and it was charging again with and
without light and accessories on ( though at one point I read 18.6 on my , meter
but that did not last long and it was back to normal). Two weeks later I was on
the road again at night lights on and lights dimmed, gauges doped out and car
died. Well you guessed it battery was dead again reading 6v.

Now I have read the timely topics on the charging system ( link below ) and I
think I have it narrowed down to the FR wire and the ECU. What do you guys think
anyone else have this problem?

I am also having a problem with surging idle that I thought was air pockets in
coolant, but the Timely topic linked says that a grounded FR wire or bad ECU
could also cause this.

Please, I really need help here I was just laid off and this is my only source
of transportation.

Sincerely,

James

 

Bouncing idle - Air pockets in cooling system, clogged IACV, or vacuum leaks. Vacuum leaks is most common problem on Vigors. Sometimes the IACV pins burn out on the ECU but this is very rare. If you checked all the other items and it still has the problem but no codes, pull your ECU out and take the top cover off. Look for burnt solder pins on the circuit board. If none are burnt, that's likely not your problem.

Alternator - Sounds to be intermittent, most likely caused by a loose connection or a bad diode (located inside alternator). What I would do is keep a DVOM in the car at all times and when the problem replicates itself, call someone up to meet me with jumper cables ready or have a jumper box on hand to assist the testing. With the jumper cables or jumper box attached, use set the DVOM to ohms to check the resistance between the batter + terminal and the alternator + terminal, then the battery + with the starter + wire. If the ohms read zero, proceed to checking the ohms of all the grounds. Also test alternator power output at the alternator itself with positive DVOM probe on the power wire and negative probe on the alternator body. If voltage output on the alternator is bad, replace alternator. If voltage output on the alternator is good, proceed to testing voltage output on battery. If voltage on battery is bad, repair loose connections. If voltage is good, then I don't know what the problem is.