Well last night my car did almost the same thing it did in the original post. I was driving around pretty slow in a neighborhood looking for a house and I noticed my headlights started dimming. I pulled over and parked and shut my car off. A few hours later when I went to leave my car started up fine. I drove around for a little bit...going slow again because it was dark out and I was looking for the way out. My headlights dimmed again...but this time my car died before I had a chance to pull all the way over. I had my friend jump the car. It started right up and I drove it around the corner...and then my headlights dimmed and my car died again. This time I was on a hill so I pulled over into a good spot and had my friend give me a ride home.

So...has my alternator gone bad again? This is really frustrating.

Thanks,

Casey

 

What does your voltmeter on the dash say?
Also what does as hand held say about the battery?

 

After reading through this whole thread, I would say you really need to overhaul your electrical system. Starting with all of the grounds and working your way to cleaning all of the contacts on the fuse panel and anywhere else that you can get to them with contact cleaner. All of this with the battery disconnected. Also, you need to check the whole car over for hot wires that are perhaps rubbed through and grounding on the body of the car. There could even be wires going to ground inside of the harness. If you have a loose wire somewhere that is making ground contact sometimes, and sometimes not, and for whatever reason is it not tripping a fuse, it could explain these symptoms. You really need to be thorough. At this point, I doubt you are going to find a quick fix.

 

The voltmeter on the dash stays constant at 10 now. When I rev the engine the meter is unaffected. I just had the car towed home. I haven't had a chance to get a handheld meter yet, but I'm hoping to get my hands on one tonight.

Thanks

 

Well, after having the battery charger on it all night, I got a chance to check it with the hand held. It stayed right around 14...13.87 or so. I turned everything on that I could think of, headlights, AC, defroster, blinker, and the voltage seemed unaffected. The only thing I didn't have turned on was the radio and interior lights because I pulled that fuse a while back because I thought my interior lights were a possible cause for my battery dying. So it seems this is an intermittent thing because everything seems to be fine now. But, considering I haven't done a single thing, I'm not going to drive it until I figure this out. This weekend I guess I'll have to start checking all the wiring.

 

Start with this, ground, ground did I say ground

 

While your at it check your starter connections, pull off your alternate shield check those connections. Then check you 14 pin connector and power post on passenger fender, once you eliminated these you know what is not causing your problem. Have you looked at your CE panel has it been wet?

 

Hey, thanks for the tips guys, but I really don't know exactly what to look for and what to do when I see it. I've only driven my car a few times since it died on me last, and I haven't had any problems with it starting or dying on me. Although, I've only driven it around the block. I'm afraid because the problem is so intermittent that even if I think I fixed the problem, the car could easily die on me at any time. Is there any sure way to get this problem fixed? But, really I'd like to know exactly what to look for when I check this stuff.

Thanks everybody. I'm really tired of not being able to take my shark out of my neighborhood.

 

Casey, sometimes an electrical problem can be traced to it's source, corrected, and you're back on the road with confidence. But, often these problems will pop up, you futz around trying to find the source, nothing definitive appears and the problem never shows up again, and you drive around wondering when that shoe is going to fall.

The items that Tampa 928s mentions are likely places of corrosion. Your not so much looking for a problem as shining up all these connections and eliminating them as possible culprits. Often this will also include the point where your problem resided.

Billings is not a very big place. Throw a set of jumper cables in the car and carry a few phone numbers. While a 928 sits around waiting to be perfected it tends to take on a few new problems.

Nothing keeps a 928 running better, than running that 928.

 

Well, jumper cable won't really help me out. I carry them around of course, but if I'm more than 5 minutes away from my house, I'd have to get it towed. When my car dies on me and I jump it, it usually runs for about 30 seconds before it dies again. Last time I was maybe 4 miles away from my house, and it cost me about $80. That could get pricey. I will go over as much as I can this weekend and check all of the grounds, but I still wish there was a way to know for sure what is wrong with it.

 

15 is really too high - get another alternator - this one doesn't sound good. Once it initiates charging - it should be fine and should regulate to <14v on a bosch type.

It is possible to get higher voltage regulators - but you don't really want one, ask for 13.8v and a do-over.

Alan

 

Well, I'm going to get rid of the rebuilt and buy a NEW alternator to make sure if I have any more problems...I can rule out the alternator. I am curious about the alarm though. I haven't had any problems with the alarm lately, but in the past I have had problems with my car not starting due to the alarm. I go into more detail about the alarm problem in this thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/928-forum/350817-more-problems-with-car-intermittent-no-start-rv.html

Could my car dying have anything to do with the alarm? If not, I would still like to know how to disable it to prevent problems in the future.

Thanks

 

...bump

 

Im not buying the bad alt idea. first, the one on the car goes bad, then the rebuilt you get is bad? Chances? Slim.... IMO anyway. Did you do any of the simple stuff? did you clean the ground strap to body connection under the tool kit? Where are you testing this voltage at? at the battery? Did you get teh battery tested? did you clean the battery terminals?

 

Casey, after market alarms are notorious for causing electrical problems on the 928. Couldn't tell you how to disable it without knowing how it's wired in.