soontobered84

Josh, I am sorry if you already told us, but I have slept since then and I have a Poloroid memory(I remember everything from the last 60 seconds), but have you cleaned all your grounds?

If not, it is imperative to do so. I use a scotchbrite pad on the surfaces to really shine them up.

jpitman2

A healthy alternator should show at least 14.3V, sometimes higher after a long crank - one of my cars goes as high as 14.7V for a few minutes, setting back to 14.1 much later. As above, check all your grounds, 14pin connections at the hot post. Also watch the voltage after the car is fully hot - my dying alternator was masked by a trickle charger and short runs, until I did several stops and restarts, and the battery collapsed as the alternator died when hot.
jp 83 Euro S AT 57k

Alan

Josh - you talk about transitioning over to a new thread for your top end refresh... but you also just switched topic to something totally unrelated to the original thread title here...

I suggest you create a new thread every time you switch topic. In the future when people want to search for answers on a central warning issue this thread certainly won't come up right?

Alan

hillofbeans

John, I went back and finished that today. I think the one under the steering column was the most awkward to get to. We'll see if that does it once I get things cleaned up on the top end.

Jpitman2, Thanks for those numbers to work with. Very helpful for comparison.

Alan, Yes this thread is a winding trail. One thing leads to five things on this old car. I was just hoping for an answer about whether there might be a connection between the oil level light, the intermittent central warning light, and alternator not working right. Seems like I came across something like this before in another thread. Further testing will have to wait until I get things put back together anyway. If I explore the central warning unit further, I'll start a new thread.

All the best,
Josh

soontobered84

Josh, Cleaning the grounds is a good way to start any type electrical work on these cars.

Alan

When unrelated systems appear to interact - it is almost always due to poor grounding. Sounds like the Warning light wasn't flashing - it was just intermittently coming on and off - These are not the same things.

Flashing will be a regular definite thing that will not just go away again.

Alan

soontobered84

Alan, I thought you could "kill" a flashing warning light, but the constant on would not "kill". Is that not correct?

Wisconsin Joe

Other way around.

The flashing CWL is 'Priority One' (brake fluid level, oil pressure, oil level). That cannot be cancelled by pushing the CWL on the center console.

The steady CWL is 'Priority Two' (everything else). Those can be cancelled.
Except for the parking brake. That has a steady CWL that cannot be cancelled.

soontobered84

Ha!! My nose was running and my feet were smelling and I thought I was upside down, and all along I was just backwards!! LOL