Alright... Well, in my van I think the altenator is dying. It starts up and the battery charges all right, but when I do anything like say, turn up the heat or turn on the radio, all my lights (headlights, console lights, etc) dim for a second then come back to normal. The problem gets worse with the number of electronics on. I always drive with my lights on, habit I guess... But if I have my lights on, radio up but not insanely loud, and turn up my heat my headlights and such get really dim, but then go back to normal. Also, thry flicker a bit when i start it... Time for a new altenator?? P.s- the battery is the original daimlerchrysler one, so its nearly 7 years old. And the van is a 2004 dodge grand caravan with a 3.3 liter v6 driving the front wheels.
Its either working or its dead, there's really no in between. Its pretty normal for lights to dim for a second when you put a larger load on the electrical system. As long as your battery isn't dying you should be alright.
alternators can show signs of wear, like dimming headlights, sounds like it could be. i'd try and test it before you just go and buy/replace it. could be a loose ground or loose belt as well.
I would say its more likely a loose ground then the alternator going bad The diode can start to go bad which converts AC to DC and it will put out less power, but most likely if that was the problem the battery would slowly lose charge and he didnt say he was having that problem Put a voltmeter on the battery when the car is running and it should read at least 14 volts. I got a brand new car and when I have the headlights on and push the electronic window button the lights will dim slightly for a second then get brighter, it really a normal thing so I dont think you have anything to worry about
Actually, if I roll down a window, the lights dim and stay dim till i let iff the switch, even worse when I roll down both of them (only the front 2 wondows roll down). I checjed the belt, less/about a 1/4 inch of play on it... How would I check the ground? Thank's to everyone else, happy tokin'/cruisin
Thats normal that they dont brighten back up until you let off the button. Just follow the grounds and check to see if they're tight and on bare metal
I wouldn't worry about it too much. You'll know when your alternator dies. If you really worried maybe go pick up a spare at a scrapyard just in case it decides to take a shit one day. My lights dim when I roll my windows down, but only when I'm pulling a thousand watts from the alternator EDIT: TO help OP you should have a ground coming off your battery, your engine block should be grounded with a stupid little flat cable like this pic, and then I think you'll have another ground on your frame somewhere, but don't quote me on that. Just follow the wires coming off your battery and make sure they're nice and tight on the frame. If there loose I would unscrew them and scrape the metal where they connect to the frame to make sure there is no rust, grease etc. there to make a bad ground.
Make sure you don't have any electrical wires by your alternator. The magnetic field around an alternator can often cause electronics in your car to start doing weird things. Does your radio make weird noises when its on sometimes?
sounds more like the battery is starting to drop a cell. Do you have a volt meter? If so what is it reading when you touch both posts of the battery? If the alt is healthy it should read between 13 and 15 volts dc. Is there green fuzz on the batt terminals? A can of coke and a wire brush will fix that. If all else fails take it to Autozone and have them test your battery and charging system. hope this helps...
Is that free? I checked everything and the posts and stuff look good, tjey have also never been disconnected. Sadly, I don't have a volt meter, but I get payed quite a bit of money at the end of this month (unemployed sadly...) and I'll probably go ou and by an optima battery and volt meter. Oh yeah... I have a blown tail light (passenger rear, but still lights up when i turn on all the lights...) so whenever i turn right, only the front clicks and it clicks much faster than normal(as a way of saying, hey check your lights maybe?) or when i hit the remote door locks. When I went to leave today, neither of my back lights lit up when i hit the door lock/unlock button on the key... And it wasn't working till I got to the family express about a mile fro my house after gettin my sister from basketball. I think it's just starting to die completely but I really can't afford a new car... @blink 182, the closest thing to my altenator would be the EGR valve, i could get a pic if you want? There's what looks like corrosion on and in the altenator though... I apologize for bad spelling, on my ipod right now
Sounds to me like your battery is dieing, but damn, the thing made it 7 years!?!? Anyhow, it could be your alternator; I have seen alternators do this when the regulator starts going out. But the first thing I would do is go to Autozone or Advance Auto or someplace like that where they will test your battery for free. I think they will find a dead cell or two in there. They will also test your alternator for free if you remove it and bring it to them to bech test.
100% true O_e My dad drained the entire battery once... He left the key in the run position, but with the engine off... Heat on... Dead the next morning... He let it idle (for about 2 hours...) and drove it a little to help recharge it, so it probably never got completely recharged. No one in my family is a gearhead except for me... So we have no tools (volt meters, oil filter wrench..). I'm running to autozone in demotte tomorrow for a tail light or 2 tomorrow, I might ask them about it P.s - i have pics of the altenator and battery if you want them
It may be a bad ground in you circuit, but i dont think it would effect that many systems,, Once you battery is drained it will only recharge to 70% of the initial charge. If it is drained again, it is 70% of that 70%. So you see how a 7 year old battery could be the problem
Yeah, I didnt know that O_e Well, heres the pics i took... Sorry for the crap quality, i took them with my ipod touch... My olympus wouldnt fit... ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting (yes, thats a flaming skull airfreshner hanging from my rearview, little gift from my dad)