Overcharing Intermitently

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M

mseale83

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Apr 29, 2009
Threads
5
Messages
14
Ok so I have searched and checked everything I can but I continue to have my charging lights come on. First I replaced the alternator and then returned it thinking maybe the one I bought was faulty only to have the same issue. I cleaned and checked all connections checked the fuse link and ground but still nothing. It only comes on sometimes, it can be after 5 mins or after 500 miles. Sometimes the lights come on but it is charging fine. Does anyone have any ideas? My next step is to take it to a shop but I really just think it is a gremlin and I will end up paying for a bunch of shop hours and end up right back here. Any ideas will be much appreciated.
 
have you measured the voltage at the battery with engine running?
 
Battery condition? Needs to be load checked to determine condition.

Sometimes batteries will trick you, they might have the right voltage but not be able to maintain under load. I would question the battery. Is it the right load rated battery for your application?
 
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Battery is only a few months old and the voltage going to the battery is around 15 but sometimes will spike to 17, but without any consistency. Lately it has been normal voltage with the lights still on.
 
Sounds like a bad regulator in the alternator, as the voltage should never spike that high. Which brand of alt. is it, just for giggles?
 
voltage too high indeed. You'll probably damage the battery (and more?) if you keep charging it like that. You might want to refrain from driving it?
 
I honestly can't remember the brand but this is the second alternator showing the same problem with in the last few months. So i just want to cover all the bases before. Also when I bring them back they always test them and there is nothing wrong with it.
 
specialk396 said:
Sounds like a bad regulator in the alternator, as the voltage should never spike that high. Which brand of alt. is it, just for giggles?
Click to expand...

X2 on the regulator being bad. You should never spike that high you can blow out electrical componants. The next thing to check is your batt for a dead cell/shorted cell plate. Even new batteries can be bad. Run a load tester and you should have your answer. If not you may have an intermitant positive wire grounding causing your alt to spike to recover the draw/loss of volts.
Just an idea or two to ponder.

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD
 
I feel like it must be a positive grounding, it seems to fit. Mainly because sometimes the lights come on and it is still charging but maybe a little low. Thanks for all the help guys. I plan on doing some major searching tomorrow and will make sure to post my results as soon as I figure this out.
 
I am also having an issue finding it because it only happens when I am driving and can't check anything. Every time I check or get to a shop or pull the alternator out everything tests fine. Fingers crossed :)
 
Ok possible new development. I have been having a leak problem when it rains that saturates my drivers side floor panel, I thought that it was from my moon roof being cracked so I sealed it and ran a bead of silicon around the rubber. Today I had it out of the garage and it rained and guess what more water. I crawled under the dash and can see where there appears to be some rust on the dash mount so I know it is running water under the dash right by the electronics. Has anyone ever seen a leak in this area? I am going to remove the dash and see it I can track it. Pictures forthcoming.
 
I think this is the problem:
Link
Someone did a horrible job taping this and if anyone has an easy way please let me know. When I was checking to tape some actual fell off probably due to age or the water.

Here you can see some water on the wires that come through that grommet.
Link


In some of the plugs you can see corrosion you can kind of see the blue green tint below.
Link

Just a general under dash photo just in case this rust I am seeing isn't normal let me know because I only found water at the lower part of the harness.
Link
 
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