On Tue, 7 Apr 1998, John Duhart wrote:
> Here is a question. Since I am dealing with a old battery, is it possible
>that the reason the light is not going off is because the Alt is having
>trouble charging the Battery? Remember, I see the voltaeg at the battery
>rising while the car is running, and the Battery has a higher voltage after
>the car has run than before. Also, I am only running the car for about 10
>minutes at a given time.
The light will come on when there is a complete circuit (with 12V) and go
out when there is no volts (fields are 'up').
Does the light dim when the RPMS go up? If one brush (or some similar
halve, like one of the bridges in the rectifier) is faulty, then you will
have a handicapped alternator. On my GM alternator the light would go out
around 3000 RPM and come back on lower than that; one of the brushes had
smoked up and was all gone.
On another car there was a similar problem (intermittent charge)- the
light didn't go on. I didn't suspect the alternator, as it was fairly
new, but it turned out to be a chunk of something (babbett I think) inside
the works of the alternator. After it was removed the car worked fine.
If you haven't done it yet, trace the entire circuit that has the l'il red
light in it. By the sounds of it your alternator is not receiving its
bootstrap- the little kick-start of current that makes it go.
-Malcolm
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