Crimson Fury Z Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 well, today i slapped new rotors on the front and was happy that the infamous pulsation was gone. in town, i hit the brakes and the car dies. last time this happened i cleaned the + terminal and all was well. it took a couple of minutes to get the car to start(the guages and lights weren't coming on during that time), after tinkering w/the + terminal. the battery guage reads 1/4(whatever volts that equals). so far the battery is taking the charge from the charger. i haven't noticed dimming lights of any kind, just a periodic power loss/cut out when i'd hit the brake pedal, then electrics would come back on after letting off the pedal. what do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadz34 Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 It could very well be an alternator starting to go, when the check engine light comes on, you probably won't make it to the shop, so I'd take it there now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Fury Z Posted April 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 haven't had the ses come on......yet! nor did it when the 1st alt went. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadz34 Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 haven't had the ses come on......yet! nor did it when the 1st alt went. That's werid the light should have came on, it did on my 92' Lumina Z34 when it went out. It died 3 days after the SES light came on. I'd go to a shop and have them test your alternator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Fury Z Posted April 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 definately getting that checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitzel Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 These alternators (CS-130) are pretty easy to diagnose and repair (if necessary). There are only 4 failure modes, and 2 of them aren't that difficult to fix: 1) Flickering of digital displays when the car is running -- diode failure, replace diode assembly. 2) Significantly changing voltage when brake pedal is depressed or another load applied -- voltage regulator failure, replace voltage regulator. 3) Brushes, these things rarely fail before the voltage regulator/diodes do. But not hard to replace either. 4) Bearings -- shows up as physical noise from the alternator under the hood. You clearly have a case of #2. So either pull the alternator apart and replace the voltage regulator (some soldering might be required), or get a new one. Do it quickly -- if you leave this for a few weeks, the result will be that you probably will need to buy a new battery in the process because of the deep discharge cycles you are exposing the battery to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 I have a fully rebuilt alternator from my shop back home. I gave him one of my bad ones, and he rebuilt everything in it with much better parts, still puts out stock voltage output. If you want it, you can have it for $75 plus shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Fury Z Posted April 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 dropped off tuesday afternoon, went in wednesday & finished wednesday, picked up today! i asked about using my own alt. but he said there'd be no warranty if something went wrong w/it(= no free repair) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted April 30, 2006 Report Share Posted April 30, 2006 You didn't change it yourself???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Fury Z Posted May 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 ....nope............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1990lumina Posted May 2, 2006 Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 FYI my SES light didn't come on until AFTER the engine died when my alternator died. But my cluster doesn't have a voltimeter so maybe that is why....I think in '91 GM replaced the oil pressure guage with the voltimeter one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted May 2, 2006 Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 If the vehicle senses low voltage, usually the ABS light(if the vehicle is equipped) will come on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Fury Z Posted May 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 and i thought my abs was on its way...................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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