Car died.......alternator? HEELLP!!!

[BlueLimited87]

Well........while driving home in heavy stop & go traffic my car died. What happend was while driving (at night) I noticed my speedometer lighting went very dim and my radio audio cut out. Car started to sputter and I was barely able to make it to the breakdown lane when it shut down. After a minute or two and a few EXPLETIVES %#@%&**!!!! I tried to restart it but it wouldn't, but it did crank or turnover. After about 30 minutes of talking to my wife and AAA to try and arrange a tow the car restarted with no problem. Still got it towed because I didn't need a repeat performance of this problem.

Once home....again car started up no problem. But haven't driven it yet. Obviously it sounds alternator/battery related but how should I go about diagnosing my problem? And I don't have a volt meter (but I will get one if it is not to expensive). Any help would be appreciated.

ON A SIDE NOTE.......I noticed last year while drive the car the volt light in the dash would flicker intermittedly when I would drive over a pot hole or a really rough section of road. It would do this while highway driving not on the slower city roads. Very Strange. THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE

 

[turbobooster]

sounds like u have short somewhere if ur voltage flutters wen u hit a hard surface .. to check ur alternator ull need a volt meter (very handy) first check battery voltage u should have 12.5v wen battery is fully charged with no key in ignition after u check ur battery ( recommend and assuming u have that full battery charge 12.5 v ) turn ur car on fire it up while the car is on check ur battery voltage again at this point ur voltage meter should read in the 14v range that tells u ur alternator is charging ur system , on the other hand if u dont see a voltage increase then that means ur alternator isnt working and ur car will run only on the battery which will eventually drain it if all checks out ok, start looking for a short stripped frayed cable wire or ground hope that helps

 

[turbobooster]

u can buy them voltage meters cheap got a digital one at home depot for 17 bucks it will get the job done

 

[QUIP'6']

Well........while driving home in heavy stop & go traffic my car died. What happend was while driving (at night) I noticed my speedometer lighting went very dim and my radio audio cut out. Car started to sputter and I was barely able to make it to the breakdown lane when it shut down. After a minute or two and a few EXPLETIVES %#@%&**!!!! I tried to restart it but it wouldn't, but it did crank or turnover. After about 30 minutes of talking to my wife and AAA to try and arrange a tow the car restarted with no problem. Still got it towed because I didn't need a repeat performance of this problem.

Once home....again car started up no problem. But haven't driven it yet. Obviously it sounds alternator/battery related but how should I go about diagnosing my problem? And I don't have a volt meter (but I will get one if it is not to expensive). Any help would be appreciated.
ON A SIDE NOTE.......I noticed last year while drive the car the volt light in the dash would flicker intermittedly when I would drive over a pot hole or a really rough section of road. It would do this while highway driving not on the slower city roads. Very Strange. THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE

sounds like it maybe the volt light in the dash. if it out or not seated correctly it the alternator will not charge the battery. also if it is corroded too. with the key forward see if the volt light lites up if not then thats your problem also if it does come on tap on the dash and see if you can get it to flicker then you will no it needs attention. good luck

 

[GSX-PKV]

sounds like it maybe the volt light in the dash. if it out or not seated correctly it the alternator will not charge the battery. also if it is corroded too. with the key forward see if the volt light lites up if not then thats your problem also if it does come on tap on the dash and see if you can get it to flicker then you will no it needs attention. good luck

This can be of help... I think EVERY turbo regal should have one installed

CEI - Casper's Electronics, Inc.

This “Plug-And-Play” wire harness is designed to assure uninterrupted charging system function on your turbo Buick/TTA.
It forces field current to your alternator whenever the ignition switch is on, and eliminates the possibility of not charging
the battery due to faulty wiring, burned-out ALT lamp, aging dash cluster flex-board connections, dash wiring problems,
etc. It accomplishes this by providing current to the field winding of your alternator whenever the keyswitch is turned on.

 

[BlueLimited87]

What area should I be looking for a short? I know there is that brown wire that comes off the alternator conecctor. Also if it is the volt bulb or light is this corrected by just getting a new dash bulb?

Thanks

 

[turbobooster]

did u check for voltage on the alternator and battery? whats did it read?

 

[QUIP'6']

What area should I be looking for a short? I know there is that brown wire that comes off the alternator conecctor. Also if it is the volt bulb or light is this corrected by just getting a new dash bulb?

Thanks

yes or you can get the field fix from caspers electronics

 

[BlueLimited87]

No not yet............going to buy a volt meter tomorrow. Keep u posted
THANKS

 

[BlueLimited87]

OK.........battery (car off) reads 12.25 volts. Alternator/battery (car on) reads 14.23ish. And when I turned on headlights and heater blower on full it went down to 13.8 then back-up 14.00ish. Oh and my volt dash light works too. Really didn't see short, but not really sure where to look either. That brown alternator wire feeding off the back kinda disappears into a wire loom.

Do you think my using a portable navigation in my cigarett lighter on my trip could have caused a problem....just a stab in the dark idea.

Any suggestions.......thanks

 

[turbobooster]

yea possibly that cig lighter socket is a common source for shorts and draining voltage i just replaced mine kept shorting out blowing the cig/clk fuse and draing battery i would also check those other places these guys suggested u never know

 

[turbocarlab]

charging problem

I have had this happen to a few of the TRs I've had (3 total and all digital dash cars). The problem would happen intermittently like what sounds like is happening with your car. If the batt voltage is 13v +, your car is more than likely charging at the time of checking the voltage. My problems have ALWAYS been due to a bad connection on the main plug into the dash cluster, directly behind the speedo. The plug is the same on analog and digital dash TRs. Its never been the voltage light bulb burned out although the bulb will not light up if the car is at the time not charging before you start it. The fix I have found to this problem is disconnecting the battery, removing the cluster, bending each terminal connection on the plug that presses into the cluster when installed outward from the center of it using a angled pick or a dentist hook/pick, scuffing the terminals lightly with emery cloth/light sandpaper and then scuffing the circuit board gently with the emery cloth where it contacts the plug. Its hard for me to put it all in words but thought you should know about this as I was never able to find any info on it when I had my first charging problem but if you have any questions feel free to PM me.