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Ok here is some history on the ricemobile

In my car I have a
- 1600w Kenwood mono amp running 2 Infinity perfect 12's
- Clarion deck
- 4" tv
- Home dvd player
- a power inverter
- 4 guage wire to the amp
- stock alternator

I do not have the tv and dvd player on unless I plug the inverter into the cigarette lighter - and I very rarely have this in.

Ok now here's the problem:

I think I'm having an electrical problem (alternator) but not exactly sure.

When I am idle at a light and turn on anything electrical (especially the defrost) the car will surge and run at a very low idle. My deck seems to turn on and off all the time - it seems that when I going over 60km/h the deck almost never shuts off. I am starting to get worried cause my headlights are dimming very very low.

Also about 6 months ago I drove down to myrtle beach and on the way backup I ended up running out of oil. The engine didn't blow or seize but it hasn't been running the same since.

I am not totally sure if I simply need a re-spun alternator or my engine is just gonna give up on me. I have a capacitor for my amp I will be putting in soon to see if this might help a little.

I will test the alternator and see if that is the case but ....

If anyone has any suggestions on what this problem could be, would be appreciated!!!!!!!

thanks alot

1600W That is definitely a huge load for your charging system

Now, if you can spin a wrench, you can remove your alternator and take it to Canadian Tire and have them full field the thing for ya. This will tell you if it is working properly or not.

Try a search on this topic - alternator rewind/rewound I know there's stuff in here especially considering others here in Ontario have had there's rewound for major electrical installs.

(Not the most likely your problem from what you said but
Check you oil pressure to see if you have any abnormal readings as this might help you figure out if your engine was damaged.

You have too much load on you stock alternator as it is probably doing fulltime to keep up the charging duties. Best results which means no stress on the rest of the system is best had by rewinding/upgrading ti high output alternator, period - not a bad thing but maybe something you hadn't initially planned on.

Big Stereo/Electrical accessories = Bigger battery(Red/Yellow Optima style), high amp alternator, capacitor (if applicable - you got one ) just to be sure that nothing is getting stressed.

To answer why your deck shuts off - you don't get your best amperage from your alternator at low rpm's, you have to wait till they are higher.
If it is shutting off it is because you are draining your system so low that the voltage drop at the radio is too great for it to stay on.

I believe that it was posted before that this type of stress can potentially fry your ECU. Best not to fool with the devil if you know what I mean ..... just kidding you can pull his tail and run real fast !!
IMHO

Keep us posted on your results because I personally (and I am sure that others) would like to hear back on your progress.

Tim from Ottawa

Thanks for the quick response Tim,

I think that the alternator is my problem - it's gonna cost me $150 to get my alternator re-spun.

I checked out how much it would cost to get a bigger alternator and they told me that it wasn't worth the money as they said it was gonna cost huge amount of money because of where the alternator is located.

Re-spinning the alternator is probably my best bet - if not then a new enging might come faster than I though.....

thanks

Well it looks like my alternator is giving up on me and I'm gonna have to get towed home from work by CAA today. The car still runs but only cause I got a good Eliminator battery in it.

I was gonna get it re-spun on Monday but I had no way of getting to work the next day so I was gonna re-spin it next monday but I guess that's not happening now...........

On ebay I regularly see alternators in the auto-parts for Colt/Mirages with starting bids of $27.00 and $48.00 and have purchased 2 over the past year for Colt project cars. These were alternators listed for mid-80s Colts.

_________________
Phil Hutchinson
1986 G15B, 1986 G32B, 1988 G32B

What engine do you have?

I have the alternator from my 1.5 that worked fine when I pulled it.

-paul

I just have the stock 1.5 but the problem was not the alternator!!!!

it was a wire that goes from the alternator to the battery!!

the battery wasn't getting recharged!

but my alternator is getting hotter than it should so I'm still gonna get that taken care of and see if that's anything to worry about

my defrost works great now!!!

Tilf,
Put the largest possible cable from the battery to the alternator that you can. This will save a lot of heat induced stress on your charging system. You'll still be limited by the max output until a re-spin though....
I was able to run a 4 guage wire for my setup but yours is much larger so do what you think is best.
IMO

hmmmm that could help out alot - good idea thanks I'll do that!

Almost forgot that you need to upgrade the ground wire to a bigger one if you can. This has to be a system of sorts!