Well, I think it's electrical. Last night coming home the RPM gauge started jumping up and down, and the dash lights and headlights got dim. Thought I was gonna get stranded but it made it another 20 miles or so home. It got back to normal for a while but when I was almost home everything got dim again.

Tested my battery voltage today, 12.6. Tested the voltage with the car running, 9.6. That can't be good.

I went ahead and pulled the terminals off the battery and cleaned everything, they were a little dirty but not terrible. I also removed the battery and checked the ground under there, it looked fine. Put everything back together shiny and clean, but still 9.6 volts when the car is running.

IIRC I read somewhere that a failing alternator would cause the running voltage to read high? What would a low running voltage indicate? Something pulling voltage somewhere? Is the alternator re-wire something good to try, or should I just replace it?


98 Contour V6 MTX, T-Red, 150k mi. Pic SVT Dual Exhaust, KKM Intake, Donnely Mirror, Dension DMP3 Player w/80GB of MP3s, Wheelskin 95 F-150 91 Mustang GT 06 Honda Shadow Aero