I went Muddin' yesterday, now I have wierd dash warning lights on... (1 Viewer)

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Yesterday I had a blast for about 30 minutes driving through some mud holes near my house. The mud was mostly watery, nothing too thick.

Today my car started fine and is running great but I have 3 warning lights on that dont make any sense.

1.) The red light above my battery guage. ( I just replaced the battery last week.)
2.) Parking Brake Light- I know its off.
3.) A/T Oil Temp light- I just started the car.

I turned the car off and restarted- same thing. On my way to work (10 mile drive) the lights went off at the same time for about 10 seconds, then all came back on and have stayed on. Any ideas?
 
Alternator.
-B-
 
OK, will do. Just curious- how would the alternator trip the parking brake and A/T Oil Temp light?
 
OK, will do. Just curious- how would the alternator trip the parking brake and A/T Oil Temp light?
that i could not tell you but mud in alt. will cause you not to charge or to not to preform a full charge.i dont know if those are wired in series or not
 
take a water hose and clean your alternater good.

I don't agree with this advice.

Remove your alternator, clean it with electrical cleaner, alcohol, or other non-petroleum based cleaning solutions, clean all connections, check all connections. Something is wrong with it from the mud and you'll have to figure that out for yourself.

-B-
 
I'll give it a good cleaning under the hood tonight. Hopefully it will fix itself.
 
I don't agree with this advice.

Remove your alternator, clean it with electrical cleaner, alcohol, or other non-petroleum based cleaning solutions, clean all connections, check all connections. Something is wrong with it from the mud and you'll have to figure that out for yourself.

-B-

x2.

Hosing it off will probably not fix it. The warning light by the charge gauge is on due to an under or over charging problem. The other lights are on because of the unusual voltage its getting. I don't know why vehicle manufactures design them do do this, but almost all will turn at least the brake light on when there is a charging problem. (Saturns will sometimes ONLY turn the brake warning lamp on. :confused:) FIY, once the battery gets below 9.6 volts, the computer shuts down and you're dead in the water, so make sure its charging properly before you plan any trips. HTHs.
 
Curtis,
Hosing it down with water might work and it might make things worse by pushing dirt and grit further into the bowels of the alternator.

A good cleaning is needed and electrical bits typically do not respond well to water, at least not for the long term.

-B-
 
I like CJF's VW hillbilly fix, it is fast , easy and if it works has saved you time.
We pressure wash ours while the engines are running, this ensures a really clean alt.
 
I don't necessarily agree with it either, but I have heard people here claim that it's worked for them. A West Virginia hillbilly fix, if you will.:D

Curtis
ya worked for 6 months:D never did die i just went ahead and bought a new one
 
I like CJF's VW hillbilly fix, it is fast , easy and if it works has saved you time.
We pressure wash ours while the engines are running, this ensures a really clean alt.
yes;) some guy at pargon helped me tear down mine on a rover tailgate. i thought it was done for but dam she fired right up and charged:D if you lived in a state with as much mud as mine is, you will try anything
 
Curtis,
Hosing it down with water might work and it might make things worse by pushing dirt and grit further into the bowels of the alternator.

A good cleaning is needed and electrical bits typically do not respond well to water, at least not for the long term.

-B-
true
 
Curtis,
Hosing it down with water might work and it might make things worse by pushing dirt and grit further into the bowels of the alternator.

A good cleaning is needed and electrical bits typically do not respond well to water, at least not for the long term.

-B-

For most electronics this is good advice, not necessarily true for cruiser alternators. The critical stuff is sealed and will work after water dunking without issue, mine has been underwater many times.

Most of the time the brushes get stuck in the holders with mud and debris, so a good flushing with water is the first repair step, most of the time it will rinse out the debris and free them. If it still doesn't work pull the brush holders off and make sure the brushes move freely. If it still doesn't work, probably something that was designed to be sealed isn't anymore and needs to be replaced, stator, field, regulator, alternator.
 
Fortunately a good washing under the hood solved my problem- no more lights.

There was not an inch of my engine bay that was not coloredwith mud. If this problems pops up again I'll start pulling stuff apart. But at this point, with my level of car knowlege, pulling things apart will do more harm than good.
 
Fortunately a good washing under the hood solved my problem- no more lights.

There was not an inch of my engine bay that was not coloredwith mud. If this problems pops up again I'll start pulling stuff apart. But at this point, with my level of car knowlege, pulling things apart will do more harm than good.
:beer:
 

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