so my alternator light has been coming on randomly but would get lighter the higher my rpms went and then it would cut out all together. my turn signal would also be flashing extremely slowly and would increase in speed the lighter the alternator light got. i know it wasn't charging the battery but i thought it might just be a loose connection and sometimes it wouldn't come on at all. For the past week or so it has stayed on and no matter how fast i go it stayed on but today, after i got home from school i went to leave and the light didn't come on at all and my turn signal was still flashing really slowly and i though that was odd so i turned off the car and then turned it back on to see if the light would come on when i turned on the car but it didnt light up at all. im going to take the alternator to napa and get it tested to see if it is working properly but im not sure what to do about the light on the gauge cluster since all the other lights still work.
If the alt light does not illuminate with the key in run position...The alternator will not charge...The bulb is burned out or you have a short in the harness to the bulb. Make certain all connections at the alt/battery/solinoid and voltage regulator are good and clean...Before you throw money at it.
id like to get it working tonight since iv got to get to school tomorrow morning, the connections are clean. How do I replace the bulb?
nope, no light. how would i go bout testing the wire harness? my neighbor gave me an voltage meter and told me how to use it to test wires but i cant remember what he said.
Hi Ken, Try these tests: (this will be a beginning, to help us to narrow the underlying problem/s) 1. With your engine off, you should measure a little more than 12 volts on your battery. 2. With your car running, and in park, measure the DC Voltage across your battery terminals. You should have around 14.3 volts DC. 3. Another simple test that you can do is to measure the AC Voltage across your Battery terminals, with the engine running, and look for less than .5 Volts AC (less than 1/2 Volt AC). Less than .5 Volts AC is good. What this test shows, is whether you have a relatively smooth rectification pattern on the output of your Alternator, and ultimately, whether you have a bad winding, or bad diode in the Alternator. If a Diode is shorted, or open, in the Alternator, the Output waveform will have an irregular waveform, that can be spotted with an oscilloscope, but it is easier and quicker to just look for less than .5 Volts AC. 4. Also, the "Alt" light bulb that you replaced...are you still able to take it out, and measure the resistance of it? It should be somewhere around 7 to 10 ohms....at least the ones in the 72' Mavericks measure around that. * If you do take your Alternator out to have it checked, make sure you disconnect the Battery terminals before doing this, to avoid damaging the Alternator, and don't disconnect the Alternator cables while the engine is running either. Good Luck...let us know what you find.
This happened to me recently as well. Battery would be dead every few start-ups and light would come on intermittent. Dead give away for me was the alternator making a tapping noise. Bought new kit and replaced all the bushings and internals and problem was fixed. good luck
