Warning lights

[CGLathrop]

I think this was addressed once before, but I cant seem to find the info.

Some of my warning lights start to come on very dim when there is a heavey electircal load being used and the car is just at idle. If I give it a little gas the warning lights will go away. then back to idel and they start to fade back in. First notice this about a week agoa after the car sat for 4 days without running. I turned the high beams on the next morning and those pesky warning lights started to fade in.

Is this the first sign of problems with the Alternator?

Chris

[cjoffe]

Your alternator could be failing, but I would give the battery a good charge before making any repair decisions. This is definitely a symptom of low voltage.

CJ

[Aredubjay]

CJ's right. That's usually a symptom of an alternator going south, but, do the simple stuff first. Check tightness of belt, check your battery terminals and your grounds. Or, if you wanna take the quick route first, have your Charge/Start system checked for free at your local Autozone or Advance Auto parts store (or similar).

[CGLathrop]

Appreciate the info.. Just need to find the time to get under the hood and start checking it all out.

Has anybody found a alternator rebuild place on-line? I will be getting a winter car this week (91 metro.. yuck) and I will be able to park the SVX for a while if needed.

Chris

[svxcess]

Try Chuy's Auto Electric Service in Los Angeles
http://www.chuysautoelectric.com/index.htm

They can rebuild your alternator to put out a lot more amperage than stock. John Shotsky on the other site recommends them highly.

[AbdominalSnoman]

Probably too late by now, but if you need to buy a new alternator, find a carquest auto parts store. I believe that I payed $180 plus $45 for the core charge about a year ago. One of either Advance or Auto Zone don't carry it, the other costs a little more, and I got two from them in a row that actually sucked up power when running (battery used to die every week, now the car won't run more than 30min without the engine dying because of not enough power for the sparks to operate) I verified this on their test equipment inside and it absorbed about 2 Amps at almost any rpms. They already sent off my core and they had to give me what their core deposit was. Luckily this was $20 more than what CarQuest charged for not having a core.

[CGLathrop]

I havnt sent it in to Chuys yet (Thanks svxcess). They can do a rebuild (stock) for about $70. If you want higher amps then they said it would be around $170. So far they seem like the best deal for the money.

Chris