AMC Eagle Den Forum
The Mighty 258 => Engine Electrical Systems. => Topic started by: Bird-o-Prey on January 16, 2012, 10:08:56 PM
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I have been driving the car for a couple of months now with the new battery (brand new Gel Exide battery with 750 cold cranking amps) and all seemed well. I filled up the tank on the car on Thursday afternoon and parked it. I went to the grocery store today and when I started it up, I noticed the battery light was flickering. The alt. gauge is sitting steady right where is should be, the oil pressure guage is running steady between 38 & 43 lbs (it started working again after I switched to 10W40 from 20W50) and the vac gauge is working too. When I went out, the car started right away with out any trouble and it drives with no problem.
I haven't been under the hood in weeks! Any idea what might be going on here???
Cheers
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Sounds like a loose connection somewhere or your alternator is about to fail.
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The altenator is less than 4 months old. It is a brand new Bosch. I don't see how something could suddenly come loose after 4 days of not being used ??? I was hoping that the battery was just low and needed recharging. When I accelerate the light almost goes out. I will put it on the charger and see if that helps. When I replaced the altenator, I used di-electric grease to prevent corrosion on all my connections, including the battery posts.
I am at a bit of a loss.
Thanks
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Is the alternator belt slipping or loose? What is you idle set at?
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It could be a weak regulator in the alt or it's sensor wire may be frayed. I see that a lot on GM style alts.
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Hi Doug. The idle is at +/- 750 rpm with the MC2150 on it. The belts are tight. The Alt is new. It was running tickety-boo for the last 3 months or so. I parked it for 4 days and now I have a flickering Batt light. The volt meter in the instrument package is holding steady right where it should and doesn't twitch (except when a switch is flipped or the intermittant wipers go off, which is to be expected, then it just moves a titch indicating a power draw for a device). The battery has lots of juice.
I am not sure it is the Alt. The lights don't dim when the idle speed drops from accelerating to idle speed. Even if I have the blower on high and the wipers on!
I am pulling whats left of my hair out trying to sort this one out.
Thanks
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Could it have to do with a faulty ground somewhere?
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That is probably true, however, I am vexed by how the ground can suddenly become faulty when the car has just sat for 4 days and no one has been under the hood in weeks. I checked all my connections a little while ago and all seems well. The battery light is usually indicative of a problem in the charging system, though, isn't it?
Thanks again!
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These old birds are odd when it comes to electrical stuff. Does sound sound like the alternator is on the way out.
That's what the issue was with my battery light anyway.
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Now for something completely different. I had a chance to drive the car today for about an hour or so. By the time I got home, the battery light has stopped flickering, EXCEPT, when I drive over a really bumpy section of snow and ice. Then it flickers just a little (barely visible), otherwise, the battery light only comes on when I lay into the pedal from a dead stop. Could it just be a low battery?? Is it possible there was just some moisture in the alternator?? I am totally confused here. The alt meter in the car is steady on 14 amps with no accessories running and about 12 1/2 with the lights and wipers and blower running.
I will take it for a long drive tomorrow when I go to work and see where we sit then.
Thanks for the input.
Cheers
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I've got one of my toys that the battery light stays on all the time. When I first got it I figured bad alternator and changed it out, no difference. Bought one of those plug in the cigarette lighter volt meters to see what was going on with the charging circuit and no issues. Voltage at battery with all the electrical accessories runnig is right where it should be. Short story, there is an Exciter Circuit that lights the Battery Light and somewhere in that circuit there is a break, short or bad connection.
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14 amps or 14 volts? It sounds like your alternator belt is loose. These old birds have constantly on alternators and run between 13.5v and 16v if your going down the expressway. If it dies when you step on it, your belt is probably slipping under the load.
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Here is a nice link to understand our alternators:
http://www.alternatorparts.com/understanding_alternators.htm
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Thanks Jurjen! I have been running the car since then and the light has all but gone out. In fact, the only tine I se it now is if I go over a bumpy road. Then, it flickers just a bit. With that being said, though, I have tested all the wired connections with the motor running and wiggling wires does not make the battery light come on. So, there must be something loose inside the altenator??
Still working on it.
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Is your Bosch alternator really a new one or just a reman?
It looks like the diode trio is making bad contact or on its way out.
Those can be bad from new too.
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Well, the battery light issue has been solved. I managed to get some time under the hood this week. Lots of things went wrong all at once. First, the battery lead to the HEI came off of the clip. Re attached with solder. Then I replaces the ground strap and the ground cable from the battery. Then, I noticed that one of the wires going into the two wire clip on the alternator was loose and broke off when I removed it for inspection. Re attached to clip with solder. Cleaned up the old dielectric grease and applied new grease. The little flickering red light is now finally off. ;) However, the oil pressure gauge is still not working. After I replaced all the ground connections, the gauge worked for a couple of days then just quit. I have tested the gauge dial itself with power and the needle jumps right across the face. So, that part is working. Any ideas ???
I also had a leak develop in the brake line on the rear brakes where the hard line attaches to the flex line across the axle. This caused the brake pedal to hit the floor almost when the fluid pumped out. It also had the unfortunate effect of tearing up the seals in the master cylinder >:(. So, $560 later, I now have a new master cylinder and brakes that work 100% again. I also found a leak in the header of my radiator. The guy at the shop was able to price out a rad for me at $465. I have a friend who works at a car dealership as a service underwriter. He found the same rad for $288. No brainer there. So, a new rad is in the works for me in the near future. I also have to replace the pittman arm and idler arm as well. This is turning into an expensive February!
Getting back to the oil pressure gauge not working, could it be the connector plug for the gauge package? Is there a ground wire in that collection of wires that is not making contact?? If there is, where does it ground itself? I cannot see anything under there that looks like an obvious ground connection.
Thanks
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It could be you need to wiggle the plug while it's running and see if the needle jumps. Ground the wire at the sender and see if the gauge pops up (that's the quick way to see if wiring/gauge or sender is bad)