Help Alternator ? Options

[bdog_v]

Hello I have a 94 celica gt while idling at night with the lights on heater on and rear defroster the lights will dim and the battery warning light will come on.
I believe the alternator is dieing. It only happens at idle and it comes and goes. I'd like to get it fixed before it leaves me stranded somewhere.
I am wondering?
-Is there a voltage regulator somewhere outside of the alternator or is it internal? I don't want to replace the alternator when it could be something else that regulates voltage.

-Also where is the best place to get an alternator for this beast? Usually these foriegn alternators go for over $100 bones yikes....


Thanks guys...

[bdog_v]

Well I did some research on this site and it seems if the grounds are bad it can act up like this. So I checked all 3 of my grounds and they look rusted so I will clean them all up and add a bigger wire from the alternator bracket to the strut tower as this worked for another 6gc member. On my old truck from the 70's there is only one massive ground wire from the battery to the engine block. Would this also work on the celica as it has 3 fairly small cables for grounds. Would one big cable work? Or does the ecu and other systems require multiple grounding points? I am just curious>>Thanks......

[bccentaur3]

So you are planning on getting rid of all your current grounds and just run one big ground wire? I would keep all the grounds as is and just get some fairly thick gauge wires to help out a little. Like an extra one on the alt maybe?

Why not take the alt out and get it tested? Who knows it might have AIDS or HIV. Its better to get tested sooner or later.

If I remember correctly theres a ground that goes from the starter to chasis and one to the tranny. I would get rid of those.

[Galcobar]

Getting rid of ground wires is not the best strategy for improving electrical flow. Without a path to ground, electricity goes nowhere.

What you actually want to do is improve/upgrade those grounds, with heavier guage wiring and clean metal-to-metal connections. The typical connections are battery-chassis, transmission/starter-chassis, alternator-chassis. You can also improve flow by replacing or augmenting the alternator-battery connection, though you'd want to fuse this wire.

[Spider77]

Have to go with Galcobar on this. Dont cut out any ground wires, just upgrade them to a 4-8 gauge wire. Also when you do replace the wires, dont forget to clean the contact areas, as paint, rust etc will interfere with getting a good ground. It also dosent hurt to use some shrink tubing on the connections!

[bdog_v]

Hello guys I kept all the grounds and replaced them with heavier gauge wire. THis did not make a difference. My voltage reading will slowly drop to 9 volts after idling for a few minutes with all electronics on heater fan on high, rear defroster on, headlights on high beam and the radio has to be on cranked up with my 300 watt amp going. So I don't know if this is a combination of a weak battery and old alternator that can't keep up after awhile? I don't trust those tests at shops as I have the same equipment at home and the alternator reads fine until after a few minutes with all the extra draw from everything being on. So I'd say alternator first as it should be able to keep the vehicle supplied with enough current at idle with everything on even with a weak battery, in my opinion.......

THanks.....

[DEATH]

Hello guys I kept all the grounds and replaced them with heavier gauge wire. THis did not make a difference. My voltage reading will slowly drop to 9 volts after idling for a few minutes with all electronics on heater fan on high, rear defroster on, headlights on high beam and the radio has to be on cranked up with my 300 watt amp going. So I don't know if this is a combination of a weak battery and old alternator that can't keep up after awhile? I don't trust those tests at shops as I have the same equipment at home and the alternator reads fine until after a few minutes with all the extra draw from everything being on. So I'd say alternator first as it should be able to keep the vehicle supplied with enough current at idle with everything on even with a weak battery, in my opinion.......

THanks.....

You got the right idea. All of those things on the alt should still be able to keep up and at that point the battery is just that - a place to store power for the next startup.

[bdog_v]

Well I price alternators today ranging from $144 to 215 but they all list a 70 and 80 amp alternator and I don't know which one I have its in a 94 2.2liter gt. How do you tell? Thanks....

[Spider77]

MT is 70 and AT is 80. There is a guy on ebay who can supply you with a high output alt...130 amps i think?

[Bitter]

watch out how many amps those high outputs make at idle speed.

[Spider77]

You know, I never found that out....was looking around for alts, but decided to upgrade wiring. Looks like I gotta find some more stuff out. thanks!