Would a weak battery cause those lights to go on?

 

The ABS controller has an under-voltage protection feature at 9.5 volts that would explain your lights. If you still have your original pulley I would reinstall it and see if the problem returns before I spent any money replacing other parts.

 

Yup. Did you have the RS pulley on for some time before the dash lights incident? Try the voltage check with the car revved ...at the very least you can eliminate the alternator.

Edward

 

I've had the RS pulley for a couple of years now. I revved to 3000 rpm and it measure over 13v at the battery, so I gues the alternator is ok. It must have been the 1 hour of bumper to bumper with ac combined with the rs pulley? It just seemed wierd that they kept coming on & off once I got to highway speeds.

 

If the abs abd cel go on shouldnt the stay off once I got to higway speeds and it charged the battery back up or would I have to shut the car off first to reset the lights?

 

Tom,

Indeed your alternator sounds fine, and I think you have described the source of your lights issue. Remember that the RS pulley was never intended to spin fast enough to keep the all the creature comforts happily charged ...as I'm certain you already know all performance mods come with a price: stop and go driving is not what your RS-equipped charging system wants to see.

You battery may be perfectly fine, or may be marginal, though. Stay on top of this as a marginal or dying battery can absolutely destroy your perfectly good (and ours are pricey) alternator. Pretty common is a battery replaced only for the alternator to follow shortly after. This is why shops check the charging system if they ever replace a customer's battery, as a failing batt will overtax an alternator, decreasing its life dramatically. Sometimes it's indistinguishable as to which failed first, the chicken on the alternator
Sorry to get long-winded on you. Good luck to you.

Edward

 

Thanks Ed for all your help. I guess my next step will to have the battery checked. Is there a way for a DIY'er to check the battery?

 

You are most welcome. No way that I know of for a DIY-er to check the capacity or potential of a battery. You can try going to the shop that you bought it from, or go to an autozone and see if they can check it (though I don't know whether they are equipped to do so, but one I went to had some kind of "load test" doohickey). Have you thought of turning your battery back in prorated?

Edward

 

Re the battery, the better check is to have it tested for CCA capacity ( cold cranking amps) - and NAPA, etc will do it for free if you disconnect the battery and walk it in. The determined value as a ratio of the name tag spec is an indicator of the batteries health.

As you are reading correct voltages at the battery and from the alt output, I am still inclined to look for a marginal connection somewhere in the loop: A poor connection can be of low enough resistance at low amperage draw to indicate spec voltage readings; however, when the amperage demand increases sufficiently ( hi beams, AC on full, etc), the resistance increases and decreases voltage ... which also decreases amps ( current flow) ... a bad cycle to solve
Modest corrosion in any of the +ve or ground connections can do this - as can poor connections on the high amperage power fuses - and even certain relays.

The real test for an alternator is removal and then have it spun to operating speed on a test bench - that is the only way to verify that it is putting out 100+ amps at a demand load at ~14v.

 

Could this be something to do with the combination of RS pulley and Optima battery? Check the archives - I seem to recall that the Optima batteries can be 'harder' to charge than normal batteries - especially when fully discharged. They also allegedly make the alternator work harder....?