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Many of you probably saw my previous post begging for electrical help (linked at the bottom of this message for convenience.
I spent some time working on the car last night, and can report that I seem to have improved but not completely solved the situation.
First, I replaced the negative battery cable. The new one is all 4-gauge copper. I cleaned the mount point on the transmission, and at the main ground point under the radiator, I did the following:
1. Removed ground wires
2. Cleaned all ends by sanding to shiny metal
3. Used my trusty dremel to grind off rust at attachment point down to shiny metal
4. Used new bolt to fasten all grounds securely
This improved the situation somewhat, but there were still large drops in voltage related to loads. So next, I cut off the battery end of the positive battery cable (there was visible corrosion where the copper met the metal end,) stripped back insulation on both cables (to starter and to positive distribution block, and attached a new end.
I then removed all connections from the positive distribution block, cleaned everything down to bare metal, and reattached everything.
I also removed the voltage regulator to check the brushes. Brushes are about 15mm long, which seems to be well in-spec. Everything was filthy, though, so I cleaned it as well as possible with carb cleaner (okay, so it might not be the best stuff in the world to use, but what the heck? I figured that I'd have to get a new VR anyway.) I also confirmed that the VR is a genuine Bosch unit, not a cr@ppy aftermarket one.
All of this done, I started the car and began adding loads. It's much better! My main problem of things actually turning off when loads are added seems to be gone. I was able to run the ventilation fan on high, turn on the headlights, turn on the rear defroster, turn on the A/C, and it the brake lights all without the radio cutting out. And this when the car is warm (when I had been having so many problems before.)
I still have one issue: unexplained low voltage. It's not a sudden drop (although it may happen suddenly but I've never "seen" it happen.) At some point, I'll be driving along and notice that my dash lights aren't as bright as they should be, or the headlights are likewise. So I'll look down at my voltage gauge (installed to help diagnose all of these electrical issues,) and sure enough instead of almost 14 volts, it'll be sitting at 12 volts. And the battery light on the dash will not be on (if it wasn't charging, I would expect the battery light to illuminate, no?) Fixing this usually involves turning the car off and restarting it repeatedly until upon restart I suddenly have 14 volts again. Sometimes I can do it once, sometimes I need to do it 5 or more times. The problem is usually not fixed by turning off all accessories; I have tried turning off the radio, headlights, and ventilation fan all at once, but the problem doesn't go away. Any ideas about this?
Thanks for the help, everyone!
--Jeremy
posted by 209.54.73...
, Mon, 23 Feb 2004 08:27:27, Mon, 23 Feb 2004 13:53:05
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