ryankokesh
10-09-2013, 06:59 PM
My biggest fear has become a reality... I have an electrical problem. :help
First symptom was the stereo kicking off for ~2 seconds. The sub stayed on though, so it must have been the amp cutting out. (sub's pre-amp) This happened about once a day at first, then with increasing frequency. Next I noticed that when I started the car in the morning or evening after sitting all day, the tach wouldn't move smoothly as the car started. It would kind of sit there and then spring up at the last minute. I also have my radar detecter set to display the voltage when it isn't detecting, and I started to notice wild fluctuations. So I took the car to the local auto parts chain and had the battery and alternator tested. Both passed with flying colors.
So with that, I came to my own conclusion that it had to be the voltage regulator. I Amazon Primed one over and stuck that in. The voltage fluctuations improved quite a bit, and the stereo issues dramatically decreased. They didn't stop though, and starting the car was still wonky. (Note that after the car had been running for a while, starting it again was totally fine.) After driving for a while the voltage on the detector would get up to around 13.3 volts.
Finally tonight I dug out my multimeter and took readings across everything I could find.
At battery off: 12.36v
At battery on: 14.00v
Front posts off: 12.32v
Front posts on: 14.05v
Alt to ground off: 12.34v
Alt to ground on: 14.19v
Cig lighter on: 12.8v
Cig lighter off: 11.94v
And now I'm totally and hopelessly stuck. Alt seems to be working fine, and battery seems like it's also fine. I also did really poorly on the electrical sections of my high school physics classes, so I have very little idea of what I'm doing. :blink
:scratchinghead
First symptom was the stereo kicking off for ~2 seconds. The sub stayed on though, so it must have been the amp cutting out. (sub's pre-amp) This happened about once a day at first, then with increasing frequency. Next I noticed that when I started the car in the morning or evening after sitting all day, the tach wouldn't move smoothly as the car started. It would kind of sit there and then spring up at the last minute. I also have my radar detecter set to display the voltage when it isn't detecting, and I started to notice wild fluctuations. So I took the car to the local auto parts chain and had the battery and alternator tested. Both passed with flying colors.
So with that, I came to my own conclusion that it had to be the voltage regulator. I Amazon Primed one over and stuck that in. The voltage fluctuations improved quite a bit, and the stereo issues dramatically decreased. They didn't stop though, and starting the car was still wonky. (Note that after the car had been running for a while, starting it again was totally fine.) After driving for a while the voltage on the detector would get up to around 13.3 volts.
Finally tonight I dug out my multimeter and took readings across everything I could find.
At battery off: 12.36v
At battery on: 14.00v
Front posts off: 12.32v
Front posts on: 14.05v
Alt to ground off: 12.34v
Alt to ground on: 14.19v
Cig lighter on: 12.8v
Cig lighter off: 11.94v
And now I'm totally and hopelessly stuck. Alt seems to be working fine, and battery seems like it's also fine. I also did really poorly on the electrical sections of my high school physics classes, so I have very little idea of what I'm doing. :blink
:scratchinghead