Guest bastaad525 Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 Hey all. Had a problem start up about a month ago, that I notice my amp meter is acting pretty crazy, bouncing around all over the place. Eventually it stopped and just settled right about in the middle, with the car running, and if I turn the lights on it would go down about 1/5 from there. Every day I notice the car gets harder to start, the motor cranks over slower and slower and finally one day it just wont start. So I assume my alternator must be bad, must not be charging the battery (it's a brand new battery by the way). Replaced it today, started the car, and the amp meter goes back up to about 2/3 of the way up. But then I notice that as I drive, when the revs go up, the thing almost maxes out at the +45 amp mark. It will fluctuate with the engine revs at between 3/5 to nearly maxed out. I had the alternator tested at auto zone and it showed perfect. Does that mean there is a problem somewhere else, like voltage regulator? Or is it supposed to show that high on the ampmeter. Now, I dont really know squat about amps, I'm used to meters that read in volts. This is the first car I've owned that reads in amps, so I dont know if it getting so high is a good or a bad thing. My lights are definately brighter... but then on the flip side, after I went for a little drive and got back home, parked the car and shut it off, then decided to start it back up, the starter still cranking slow. I'm thinking maybe the starter is having problems too, because many times before the amp meter ever started acting up, there would be times I would go to start her up, it would crank slow, but if I immediately stopped cranking it, turn it all the way off then back on and crank it will crank fine... makes me think maybe the solenoid is bad? What do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tom sixbey Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 i'm having the exact same trouble out of my car now. My needle is bouncing all over the place and is showing a consistent overcharge. On top of that, all of the electrical contact points are starting to burn in my car. - i imagine the problem is in the voltage regulator, so i ordered a new one. I believe the regulator went bad when a friend of mine jumped my battery BACKWARDS. just goes to show - dont ever trust anyone to jump your car assuming that they know what they're doing. - and this guy was supposed to be an aircraft mechanic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rick458 Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Alot of cars in that era got damaged quite easily by jumping them or using them to jump other cars I would definitely replace the Voltage Regulator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tom sixbey Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 well, - this car has probably jumped off about 10 other cars in the last 2 years and been jumped off about 3 times itself in the same amount of time. - the nissan voltage regulator is 85 bucks, but i got one from victoria british for 25... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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