Electical problems driving me nuts!

MotionMotion New Wagonist
in Electronics, Fueling & Air Conditioning
I have been having electrical problems for the last few months that i can not seem to figure out. When i turn on the blower fan, headlights, or hit the brake, the radio will kick out. The battery was tested , and sais its good but needs a charge. Voltage coming from alternator is 14.5 however when orileys tested that for me they said it only looked to be putting out 20 amps. So i charged my battery up to full charge again.. and cycled through through the whippers and lights with the car turned off and ignition on and it does the same thing it does when the car is running, radio cuts out and everything flickers? Does the fact that the car wasn't running eliminate the change of it being from the new alternator not putting out the right amount of amps? We have replaced grounds and checked for shorts, but found nothing as of yet? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I really don't want to pull the alternator back out to have it tested out of the car if its not the problem.. I also didnt keep the reciept and napa wont take it back with out it.. Errrr
Thanks for any help

Comments

  • stampernstampern Senior Wagonist
    Is it just the radio that flickers, or other things as well? If you have a volt meter, what is the voltage of the battery when you have some of the things turned on?
  • leWolfleWolf Senior Wagonist
    check your grounds, had weird things with mine happening and now it's fine
  • MotionMotion New Wagonist
    Ill try and get the voltages ASAP.. Dont have my multimeter here at the moment.. I replaced 2 of the grounds already. Thought that might have solved it actually, but then it was back to doing it again with in a week. Not sure if it was actually the new ground that stopped it or if it just stopped for some other unknown reason for that short time.
  • 503Wagon503Wagon moderator
    I'd say replace all the grounds, I did that with my EF and it fixed a lot of headaches.
  • MotionMotion New Wagonist
    Figured it out atlast :) It was the main pcl fuse in the fuse box under the hood.. fuse didnt pop, but it was cutting back the voltage for some reason.. replaced it and now im charging all the time at 14.4 with no hickups.. Makes me wonder if i ever really needed a new alternator.. Still doesent make sense why changing the alternator seemed to solve it for a while, and why adding the new grounds also seemed to solve it for a while.. This time i can tell that its really solved. Starts better, idles better, nothing flickers or dims.. its like a new car.. Now time for more snow to play around in and make vids.
  • JDMWago666JDMWago666 Senior Wagonist
    ^^WTF happened here?
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