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 Post subject: stuffed alternator?
PostPosted: 26 May 2011, 19:47 
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Joined: 26 May 2011, 19:05
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Your car: 1983 AA Cordia GSL 1.6L
hey guys,

My '83 1.6L AA Cordia GSL has had an annoying electrical problem for a while and I'm thinking the alternator is stuffed, but wanted to hear some other peoples thoughts.

Problem: when car is idling (in drive) and some accessories are turned on (headlights, aircon, radio, wipers, etc) if I indicate left or right, the indicator will either blink irregularly or freeze in the 'on' state.

I have tested the battery -- reads ~12.35 volts with car off
I have tested for parasitic drain when car off -- reads ~1.7mA (already knew this wasn't a problem, but tested anyway)
Tested battery with car on -- reads ~13.7V (isn't this a bit low? shouldn't it be above 14V if the alternator was doing it's job?)

Tested battery again under load (in drive, low beams, radio, wipers, aircon, etc), battery drops to ~11.6V, indicators work fine
Add in high beams -- battery drops to ~11.5V and the indicator problem appears.

What I can gather from my testing is that so long voltage doesn't drop below 11.6V, indicators work fine.
But 11.5V even under load seems extremely low to me -- hence my thoughts that the alternator is not doing its job properly.

What do you guys think?

Is there something else aside from bad alternator that could cause such a problem?

I thought maybe another accessory could be faulty, drawing too much power & causing excessive drain, but all other accessories seem to work fine & there is no parasitic drain when car is off...

Another issue, which may or may not be related is that I have noticed that 'very' rarely the battery gauge in the dash pings from high to low repetitively when accelerating at about 100km/h. Could that also be a symptom of a bad alternator or something else?

FYI: I know that the electrics and wiring has not been touched since it left the factory (except for replacement alternators over the past 20+ years) because it used to be my parents car and is completely stock.

Cheers


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 Post subject: Re: stuffed alternator?
PostPosted: 26 May 2011, 20:09 
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Joined: 10 Jun 2006, 00:35
Posts: 3644
Location: Adelaide South Australia
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Your car: DOHC 2.3 VR4 85 AB GSR
Immaculate Stock 86 AC GSR
Sounds to me like the "low" brush of the regulator is very close to being replaced.

Normally the "high" brush wears causing excessive voltage 18volt plus.


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 Post subject: Re: stuffed alternator?
PostPosted: 26 May 2011, 20:20 
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Joined: 25 Dec 2006, 19:08
Posts: 433
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Your car: AC 1.8 multipoint 135fwk
could be resistive wiring between alternator and battery

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 Post subject: Re: stuffed alternator?
PostPosted: 28 May 2011, 17:34 
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Joined: 10 Sep 2003, 19:16
Posts: 1264
Alternator should be supplying between 13.5 volts to 14.5 volts even under load. Check the voltage under load at the back of the alternator to rule out voltage drops in the wiring.


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 Post subject: Re: stuffed alternator?
PostPosted: 28 May 2011, 23:31 
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Joined: 26 May 2011, 19:05
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Your car: 1983 AA Cordia GSL 1.6L
Cheers fellas.

I have checked the voltage at the back of the alternator uner load and it's the same as at the battery (~11V) so this rules out resistive wiring/voltage drops between battery and alternator.

Must be alternator brushes/regulator.

Thanks for the help.


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