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[DashingDaryl]

My charge light comes on intermittently when I drive.

I changed the belt last month along with the plug wires.

After I changed the plug wires, my engine ran MUCH faster. (yes, it sounds impossible, but it ran faster at idle and when I accelerate)

I think my charge light comes on because my old alternator can't keep up with the faster revolutions and needs to be replaced.

I also think it might come on because the belt is too tight (I did the belt check, and it definitely is not too loose)

Any opinions on whether a too tight belt would cause a charging error light. (something that seems impossible to me)

Or any opinions if a charge light automatically means alternator replacement.

Or any opinions if I should get my lazy butt up and away from my computer and go check to see if my wires from the alternator are properly and tightly connected? (Yet another thing that seems impossible during the hot summer)

[rcicustoms]

funny thing i just put one on my car last week...tru shit...
my alternator seemed to die slowly...
and even with the optima battery
eventually i was running on just it...
so i took the one from a 323 motor we had laying arround.. same plug and pulley..

intermitant electrical problems are usually due to loose connections... on someting... but when a alternator dies it can make the car do all kinds of whacky stuff...
hook it to a voltmeter of somekind and check its output on the idle it should be producing somewhere in the 13.2-14.2v range... if not replace...if on the volt meter its spiking to like 24 volts replace it fast... means the voltage regulator has gone bad (its built into the alternators case)....Joe

[Rocketman]

If your engine is idling faster then turn the idle down, there is a screw on the throttlebody for idle adjustment Proper idle is 850-950 RPM

The alt will turn with the engine no matter what speed.

Belt "too tight" isn't going to be an issue, unless it is excessively tight it can cause premature wear of the water pump. But I'm talking extremes here.

It sounds like a loose connection, or a dying alternator. You can have the charging system checked, or check it yourself.

[DashingDaryl]

So my electrical problem finally caught up to me this morning when my car would not start.

I always thought my problem was quirky because my Charging guage on my dash always showed I was outputting 14 volts and yet my dash light would come on when I hit a bump and go off when I hit another bump.

I always kind of suspected it was my battery. It came with the car and was Checker's cheapest. In fact it only had a 90 day replacement warranty.

Today when it died I took it in to have it tested. Though it showed 12 volts, the battery came back bad with a bad cell.

Kinda cool, my car new that.

I put in a new battery and will see if that resolves my issue.

[DashingDaryl]

nope. no resolution. My next guess came from Joe; i will check for a poor ground wire. Any other ideas?

[Gostlrs]

You can swing by if you need some help...

[Surfnut]

Did you check like Joe said to see if it the alternator's output is 12.8 or above at idle ?   A regular car battery will sit right around 12.8 (sometimes even with a bad cell).  Anything above 12.8 will be a charging situation but obviously, if there's a bad cell, you're going to have troubles when the battery's under load (like when it's cranking to start).

If the alternator's charging in the proper range, as Joe suggested, it's not the alternator that's the problem.  Highly unlikely that it's the belt either-if it was, you'd definitely hear the belt screeching under load and if you tightened the snot out of the belt, like Rocketman said, you could prematurely wear out the water pump bearings.  The belt should be tight but not crazy-tight.

What we need to figure out is if the alternator is really charging when the light is on on the dashboard.  Is the light on only for a few seconds every now and then or is it on constantly for long periods of time ?
A car can run a LONG time on just battery power with no charging alternator.
If the light is only on for a few seconds at a time then I'd say your no-start issues aren't because of an alternator / charging problem.

Do you have any more details on this problem ?

Dave

[Gostlrs]

You can always take the Alt to checkers or autozone here and they can test it. I did that to one of the Alt I had on a capri someone brought over and the Volt Reg was bad....put in a new one and everything has been cherry since

[DashingDaryl]

I took it to Autozone and they tested my alternator. The test came back good.

The light goes on and off when I drive, usually when I am coasting to a light. If I give it a little gas, the light goes out. It is an intermittent problem.

I sort of think it might be a voltage regulator problem. It just so happened when I took it in, the problem wasn't occuring.

[DashingDaryl]

So it's been a month since i replaced my alternator with the one i got on eBay. It was the resolution to my problem and overall the price and replacement time weren't bad at all.

[Gostlrs]

I am back in town if you need anything..let me know