H E L P

[Lawrence C Leung]

Altenator gone bad. Bad, Bad, altenator. (If the regulator failed,
voltage would go above 14 or so volts at high RPMs). Time to contact Avi
Meron.

LL - NY

On Tue, 30 Jan 2001 08:16:38 -0500 Michael Williams <campvw at home.com>
writes:
>I had a problem with my car this morning. It is an 89 100. It is a 
>rainy
>day so when I left for work I had on my wipers, headlights, radio and
>heat. As I was going I thought I noticed the dash lights getting 
>dimmer.
>Some of the dash lights are burned out but I can normally see the
>voltage gauge but I couldn't see it. As I pulled off the Parkway I 
>was
>able to shine some light on it and saw that it was below 12v. Not
>wanting to get stuck 20 miles away from home I turned around and 
>headed
>back. No sooner had I turned around then the battery warning light 
>came
>up on the dash and the dash lights got dimmer. On the Parkway back
>(praying all the way) the car would sputter, the dash lights would
>flicker high and low and other warning lights would flicker on and 
>off.
>I think the only thing I was missing was the robot from "Lost in 
>Space"
>shouting "WARNING, WARNING!!!". I turned off the headlights but left 
>on
>the parking lights, off with the radio and heater and just used the
>wipers on an as needed basis. As I was driving the sputtering and 
>light
>flickering went away and by the time I got home I was able to put my
>lights back on and I could see that the voltmeter was now over 12v.
>Ok, what should I be looking for on this. Altenator or Voltage
>regulator? I know it was running off the battery but if the altenator
>was bad would the battery have recharged itself in the 20 miles back
>home? Any insight would be GREATLY appreciated
>Thanks
>Mike Williams
>