BANgLE Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 My old alternator in the Loyale was causing the voltage to spike to nearly 18 when the revs went high. Sooo, I went to the wrecker and got a used one that was reported to put out 14V. I've swapped it in and for the most part it seems ok. It doesn't spike anymore and stays steady at 14V while driving but when I come to a stop and the idle goes low, it slowly creeps down to 12v and almost under. The lights dim a bit, the meter will flick with turn signals at times, and the charge light has a faint glow. As soon as I touch the gas everything is back to normal. On a final note, could this be caused by some slightly ghetto wiring? I wouldn't say it's really bad but I had to connect the new alt plug wires to the cars wires using the tube like crimps. On one wire I had to use 2 crimps because of adding more wire for length. I made sure they had a good bite though and they're all taped up. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eulogious Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Well it's normal for the voltage to dip down on idle because the stock alternator suck and put out very little amps at idle. They don't start putting out decent amps until about 2500 RPMs or so... To be getting the charge light... I would try charging the battery. If the battery was almost dead, the alternator as to work extra hard all the time to try to charge it back up. Maybe that's why it's dipping so low? I would charge the battery, and then see if the problem is still the same. Hell, I would swap in a good battery if you have one around just to test. That would be the first thing I would look at after swapping out a bad alternator. After that, I would solder and heat shrink those connections just to make sure. And yes, I would solder them, anything in the engine compartment should only be soldered. To much heat and exposure to the elements to trust crimp connectors or wire nuts... Can you say corrosion? You don't want ANY corrosion on your alternator connections either. That just equals bad times. Why did you have to cut the wires in the first place? The "new" alternator should have just plugged right in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 get your battery tested to make sure it is still good. bad alternators can kill a battery - bad battery can kill an alternator - and a vicious cycle will ensue - bad alt, bad battery, bad alt, bad battery and so on. :-\ most of your chain auto parts stores (advance, etc) will test your battery & alternator for free - Go get it done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87glsubie Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 well i jsut did an alternator swap from an 87 nissan pathfinder. 90 amp alternator. it practically bolted right up to my ea82. all i did was use the female connectors for the plug in. i believe most alternators out of the older 3.0 v6 nissans will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BANgLE Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 To Eulogious: I had to cut the wires to use the plug that came with the new (used) alt. The original plug and wires from my car looked like they had really fried themselves. Maybe from the power surges. I think I have a soldering gun around. You're right, I should probably do that. Heartless: Will check the battery. I hope the crappy alt didn't fry it since it was a good one and brand new a few months ago! That would suck! Thanks for the advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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