Well, a few days ago my battery light was flickering and it has now come on all the way all the time nearly. All my lights are dimming & flickering.. Today on the way home my tachometer went down to <1,000 RPM and bounced around, without any difference in the engine.. Bye bye goes my alternator? I saw someone suggest replacing the "megafuse" or something... Could this fix it?
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Battery Light
- Thread starter arin
- Start date
Charge battery well. Then test battery and alternator.
Read this.
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=3535
Read this.
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=3535
RawBurt
Hard-core CEG'er
There is SOOOO much info on battery lights. Do a quick search, I'm positive you'll find the answer you are looking for
DyComet
Veteran CEG'er
Like Tony said, charge the battery then test the alternator, but from the symptoms it looks like you're going to need a new one. Don't do too much driving on it because once your tach starts to go you're almost out of life. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.
Ok - well today I parked it and 2 minutes later it didnt start up. There's just a clicking noise when I turn ignition. The wind shield wipers came on and instrument panel lights were on, though. If I cant start it up how do I check with a multimeter like everyone says? Should I try n get my battery charged first? (my battery died a while back, but I figured the alternator recharged it so it would be fine, does this affect this?)
zorrex
Enjoys the Abuse
Your battery is dead. I know that you're gonna say, "But the panel lights and windshield wipers work!" Your battery is dead. Girl at work couldn't get home one day cuz her car (2002 Ford Taurus) wouldn't start, just made a clicking. Yet, everything worked, even the stereo. Her battery was dead 
lol. We had tried jumping it but apparently we didn't have a sufficient ground and it didn't jump. We gave up after a couple tries cuz we doubted it was the battery. Get your battery charged and definitely check on that alternator...
lol. We had tried jumping it but apparently we didn't have a sufficient ground and it didn't jump. We gave up after a couple tries cuz we doubted it was the battery. Get your battery charged and definitely check on that alternator...Yes.. you should DEFINITELY have your battery WELL CHARGED before attempting to check your alternator, or battery voltage. A dead battery will negatively affect your alternator test results!
trickle charge your battery.
then: do this
Hope that helps. When you find out WHAT the problem is (or may be, come back and we can then direct you to a fix!
trickle charge your battery.
then: do this
Hope that helps. When you find out WHAT the problem is (or may be, come back and we can then direct you to a fix!
RawBurt
Hard-core CEG'er
Just hearing "battery light" gives me nightmares.
.....Said the guy who can probably change the V6 alternator with his eyes closed and one hand tied behind his back. :laugh: Was it 5 times in as many months? :laugh:
If you are going to the parts counter, they will punch the data (V6 or I-4)in the computer and come out with the correct alternator.
Easiest way to see if your alternator is working is just to hook up a multimeter to it.... shouldn't matter weather your battery is charged or not.... your batter should read around 12 volts when off, and once you start your car the read out should be around 13.5 - 15 volts... (readings taken from battery terminals) If it's up, it should mean that the alternator is charging the battery.... if that's the case, I would think that it means your battery is bad possibly.... I think you can load test a battery at like advanced auto or something..... They'll be able to tell you if the battery is still good, Farm and Fleet may do the same as well... not sure.... If the voltage doesn't increase when the car starts... then you may have something wrong with the alternator.... the maxi fuse fix you should be able to find by using the thread search at the top...
98SVTC
Hard-core CEG'er
Please to not test the battery with the multimeter on the OHMS scale! Did you test the battery voltage yet? If not, do that first. There's a certain methodology to doing any sort of troubleshooting and it starts with the simplest things first. The alternator is the last thing you want to change, especially if you don't have to. Reply back only if you've done what we've suggested up to this point.
Karl
You should be reading voltage not resistance (ohms) at the battery! You need to see what the voltage is at rest (car off) and then what the voltage is with the car running.... Make sure your multimeter is set to DC Voltage....
Okay, I kinda thought that's what happened. 11 volts though at the batterry with the vehicle running is not good, you should have much higher voltage than that.... Double check your connections on the battery, make sure they are tight, do a visual inspection of your power and ground wires. Make sure they are in good shape. I'd find a place close to you that will test batteries for free, start tracking down what the problem is.... Sometimes a low voltage can be caused by a bad ground. For example, the other night we had an employee, whos car wouldn't start, and when she tried to start it it would set the alarm off. She had gone to Sears or something and they replaced her alternator and starter on her cavilier. My supervisor went and looked at it, someone had done a battery relocation, and had grounded to a painted area in the trunk. This in turn caused low voltage and for the systems to not function right. He went in and arc'd the ground to start it, pulled it around to our bay and re-did the ground, after that everything worked perfect. It sometimes just the littlest of things that can mess things up....