HELP! High voltage problem on '98 Camaro
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
From: Los Angeles
HELP! High voltage problem on '98 Camaro About a year and a half ago I got the regulator replaced due to it getting burnt and it worked fine but my Check Gauges light stayed on ever since.
About 3 weeks ago all of the alternator's internals got burnt so I got it rebuilt with new parts of course. It's been about a week or two that I have this problem especially on cold starts. The voltage is about 15+. Sometimes it reaches all the way to 18 volts, and goes back down to 15/16 volts after a while when crushing . The thing is my headlights and any interior lights flicker a lot especially at idle. What could this be?
Here's the link to the video, sorry for the bad quality. When I turn the camera horizontaly you can notice the flashing I'm talking about.
https://m.youtube.com/watchv=_T0EkSP5RAc
About 3 weeks ago all of the alternator's internals got burnt so I got it rebuilt with new parts of course. It's been about a week or two that I have this problem especially on cold starts. The voltage is about 15+. Sometimes it reaches all the way to 18 volts, and goes back down to 15/16 volts after a while when crushing . The thing is my headlights and any interior lights flicker a lot especially at idle. What could this be?
Here's the link to the video, sorry for the bad quality. When I turn the camera horizontaly you can notice the flashing I'm talking about.
https://m.youtube.com/watchv=_T0EkSP5RAc
Check the battery too. They have been known to cause some crazy ****.
But why rebuild an old alternator....?
Go get one at PepBoys or Advanced Auto.....LIFETIME warranty.
It will be the last alternator you ever buy. Mine is going on something like 8 years. Works great on a big stroker engine, night time, A/C kicking, and my 1,000 amp stereo system cranking. No issues at all.
.
But why rebuild an old alternator....?
Go get one at PepBoys or Advanced Auto.....LIFETIME warranty.
It will be the last alternator you ever buy. Mine is going on something like 8 years. Works great on a big stroker engine, night time, A/C kicking, and my 1,000 amp stereo system cranking. No issues at all.
.
a bad ground connection between alternator and chassis, or more specifically between the voltage regulator to what ground is.. ground being 0v, that's how it knows what to reference from electrically and give you a correct 13-14 volts above ground. when there's resistance to ground, the voltage regulator doesn't know any better and it causes a higher voltage output to make up for that.
the other is you have the wrong voltage regulator, and have incorrect wiring from the car wiring harness [engine computer] to the voltage regulator. or the regulator is being incorrectly commanded or not commanded by the engine computer.
the lights flickering is 1 or more bad diodes in the rectifier. the rectifier is a separate part than the voltage regulator, and can itself be replaced.
you can't really screw up rectifier replacement by installing a wrong part, those all work the same. the voltage regulator is basically a mini-computer and how they work and are interfaced varies greatly between make/model/years of cars... even different years of the same make/model.
considering time & money, just swap out the whole alternator with anything new or reman for your vehicle having a lifetime warranty from pep boys, autozone, napa, etc.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
From: Los Angeles
I took the alternator to Autozone to get it tested and 2 out of 3 times it failed the test. I went ahead and bought a new one from them and put it on the car. No more check gauges light and everything is working as its supposed to.
Thanks to all of you for your help
Thanks to all of you for your help
