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View Full Version : Alternator help!!!!


thereal240
08-05-2014, 07:18 PM
First of all, I have an 89 hatchback with the completely stock single cam motor (plans to swap soon but thats besides the point)

Basically, all of the sudden my motor has been idling VERY rough, RPM's dipping down to the 200's-300's and then fighting its way back up to the 600's- 700's.

After doing a little snooping around my engine bay, I noticed my alternator pulley actually SLOWING DOWN AND STOPPING while the engine is running and then start spinning again. So i unplug the alternator (and another wire connected to the same plug) plug from the battery and bam! It started running perfectly fine! Plugged it back in and again, ran poorly. So with my friends help, we tried a bunch of stuff to figure out why it was doing this ( took the alternator off, brushed/cleaned the positive terminal, made sure the plastic piece on the stud was there (it was), tidied up some wires floating around the area) and reinstalled. Still, same problem. I went as far as replacing the alternator and the 75amp fuse. Still having the problem.

Im thinking i have a short somewhere in the positive wire from my battery to the alternator. The next thing i am going to try is to run my own positive wire to the alternator to see if that fixes the problem. Other than that.... i have no idea. Any help guys?

Vegass13
08-05-2014, 08:25 PM
that belt connects to the water pump right? maybe thats whats getting stuck? i dont see how the wires would stop it from spinning, that would just stop the battery from charging