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IMRC woes

B

Beans

Addicted CEG'er
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
6,758
Location
Plymouth,MI
Well ladies and gentlemen, in my quest to fix my battery light going on at 3500rpms, i did a battery and alt test, and both turned out good voltage wise. Huzzah! Not changing the alt

My 2nd idea was the IMRC, because the light going at the same time they are supposed to happen.. In testing to see if the IMRC was working... revving engine to 4k+ with no linkage moving. So i figured, well maybe i got a bad IMRC..

So i went over to my mystique and pulled the known working IMRC off that, and put it on the svt... and No dice, no secondaries.

At this point i figured i have a bad connection to the IMRC wiring. But when i put back my IMRC back into the mystique... Dead. No more secondaries :(

My logic is telling me there is something very wrong with the svt's injector harness? Should i start looking for a new injector harness and 2 IMRC's? :cry:
 
Yes its hooked up properly. No thanks, i got 2 in the works already.

Can anyone else give any insight?
 
I would but it still wont solve my battery light issues. They could be unrelated...or not, i just don't know for sure. The alt seems to test out fine, i do however get dimming on the interior lights at idle.
 
Did you try just disconnecting the IMRC? When my IMRCs were giving me problems (different IMRCs at different times), I could unplug the box and just drive around without secondaries. It sucked, but the car at least drove, instead of turning itself off every time it hit 3700 or w/e.
 
your battery light is a seperate yet another notorious issue with these cars... called brush chattering at high rpms, the alt will test ok a million times but reman alt are very bad for doing this on our cars.....

i have no help with the imrc but i will say i have gathered that the only way to stop battery light is to get ford factory replacement or rebiuld on yourself...look up battery light issues in search and you will find a slew of information about the alt problems with these cars.... i have put four on myself in two years and all have threw on the battery light at high rpms and i just deal with it because i have warranty on alt so i change before the warranty runs out for free instead of forking over fords hefty alt price
 
<sigh> When i had the engine out i took it and had it tested and it came back good. :(

I just don't understand why it would show perfect voltages, have 0 issues (other than the Imrc) and still get a battery light.

Gah! WTF!
 
Beans said:
<sigh> When i had the engine out i took it and had it tested and it came back good. :(

I just don't understand why it would show perfect voltages, have 0 issues (other than the Imrc) and still get a battery light.

Gah! WTF!
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cause its a contour:shrug:
 
i went thru the same thing and read up on here and found out it just has something to do with the brushes chattering at high rpms and they will always test fine.... silly as crap i know but i dont let it get to me i just ignore it.... there are a couple of guys on here who do rebuild them so they dont but i cant remember who..... i have been pretty lucky with this last one the rpm range will vary too depending on the alt... my first was 3500 rpm and the second was 4000 the third i think was 3600 or so but this last on does it a couple hundred below redline so i consider myself lucky and i just shift before the redline to be safe lol...


imrc..... maybe you should just try another imrc to be sure and be very careful about "beating" it around because seems to me these imrc's need to be handled like an egg or you pose the threat of damaging it to not work too...
 
icysvt said:
cause its a contour:shrug:
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Unacceptable answer! :laugh:

There is a reason that things happen...

repo_this 98 se sport said:
i went thru the same thing and read up on here and found out it just has something to do with the brushes chattering at high rpms and they will always test fine.... silly as crap i know but i dont let it get to me i just ignore it.... there are a couple of guys on here who do rebuild them so they dont but i cant remember who..... i have been pretty lucky with this last one the rpm range will vary too depending on the alt... my first was 3500 rpm and the second was 4000 the third i think was 3600 or so but this last on does it a couple hundred below redline so i consider myself lucky and i just shift before the redline to be safe lol...
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Thats so weird, my alt makes 0 noise other than the belt spinning the pully, i just don't see it being the alt, even though i have read all these threads (like you said) where strange things happen with the alt... i've had it on the Mystique too

repo_this 98 se sport said:
imrc..... maybe you should just try another imrc to be sure and be very careful about "beating" it around because seems to me these imrc's need to be handled like an egg or you pose the threat of damaging it to not work too...
Click to expand...

Nah, if I'm worried if i do that, I'll have a stack of IMRC paperweights as tall as the car.

I hate electrical stuff :mad:
 
Beans said:
Thats so weird, my alt makes 0 noise other than the belt spinning the pully,
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none of mine made any noise, just light came on and the dimming of the lights at idle....
the only other explanation i can forsee is bad ground, but i would think you would have more issues than that with bad ground or a short...

both of your problems are notorious contour issues that hundreds/ thousands have had i believe that as ridiculous as it sounds they ll cant be wrong and i would rather eliminate those options first before seeking a bigger fish...

replacing the alt even with a reman from local auto stores brand might offer a remedy or better than you have now like i did.... hell, if it doesnt work you can return and your out some time and aggravation but fully eliminated that being the prob first instead of doing this and doing that only to find out the easiest was the first option....

same with the imrc..... if you can find one at local salvage yard like i did (it took 3 months of once a week calling to finally find a yard who got one in that hadnt already had motor sold)they will offer 30 days on their parts (and if they dont i surely wouldnt ever deal with them at all) and same thing worst case is you wasted some time but fully eliminated that being the prob.... instead of pulling upper intake and lower intake and this and that your going to be suggested to do which is more time comsuming and maybe more expensive....

just my opinion
 
repo_this 98 se sport said:
none of mine made any noise, just light came on and the dimming of the lights at idle....
the only other explanation i can forsee is bad ground, but i would think you would have more issues than that with bad ground or a short...

both of your problems are notorious contour issues that hundreds/ thousands have had i believe that as ridiculous as it sounds they ll cant be wrong and i would rather eliminate those options first before seeking a bigger fish...

replacing the alt even with a reman from local auto stores brand might offer a remedy or better than you have now like i did.... hell, if it doesnt work you can return and your out some time and aggravation but fully eliminated that being the prob first instead of doing this and doing that only to find out the easiest was the first option....

same with the imrc..... if you can find one at local salvage yard like i did (it took 3 months of once a week calling to finally find a yard who got one in that hadnt already had motor sold)they will offer 30 days on their parts (and if they dont i surely wouldnt ever deal with them at all) and same thing worst case is you wasted some time but fully eliminated that being the prob.... instead of pulling upper intake and lower intake and this and that your going to be suggested to do which is more time comsuming and maybe more expensive....

just my opinion
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I was considering upgrading the grounds.. i might just do it for the hell of it, can't hurt. I just would like to avoid changing this alt at all costs. (well most) If it comes to it, i would like to do it once, do it right. So i don't have to change it for a looooooonnnnnnnng time.

Installing a IMRC isn't really a big deal... Ive taken that intake manifold off more times than i can count.

Does anyone have a diagram for the IMRC? Whats voltages i can test at the harness?
 
Change your alt and call it a day....or at least buy one from an auto part store...test it out...if the problem still exits return the part. :shrug:
 
Uggh, if I'm going to install the alt, i do NOT want to change it out again if its doesn't fix it.
 
Beans said:
Uggh, if I'm going to install the alt, i do NOT want to change it out again if its doesn't fix it.
Click to expand...

Then leave it in :laugh:

Beans your almost there man. Hang in there.

Oh if you want your tb done...call me fri or saturday. So we can finish it up...i'm in l-town this week/weekend.
 
Beans I got a good alt here too, if you want it call me ill give you a deal on it for five oh if you want it with the IMRC six oh will do her.
 
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