my98tiburon

so for the past week my tib has been giving me problems i replaced the battery last week and it was running fine then yestrday it completely turned off on me none of my lights were wrking, so i checked fuses, wires ,alternator, battery, if its not those what could it be??? could it be the starter? even tho it turns over fine?

sharkrocket

is there a voltage regulator?

Stocker

I have the feeling you are having car trouble but from your initial post it is hard to tell what is wrong. A specific list of symptoms and questions clearly stated are more likely to get help from more people.

187sks

Yeah, I don't follow exactly what is and isn't working, or what was checked (and how) and what was replaced. Electrical problems are often complex, more very specific info would help a lot.

my98tiburon

ok the problem i am having is that when im driving my car mostly at night time my headlights and dashboard lights go dim and if i keep driving it will completely turn my car off, now that has happened to me already and i had to replace the alternator, so i took off the alternator and took my battery to pep boys to get tested..... they both passed alternator is working fine and battery is showing good volts, so next i checked the wires to the battery and to the alternator and they both looked in good condition, next i checked the fuse box for any bad fuses they were all good, so after all of that i put the alternator and battery back on to see if my lights would work...... it turned on and was running fine then after the 20 min drive home my headlights and dashboard dimmed on me again, so i d k what the problem is. my car is showing a check engine light so i put it on a computer and its just my o2 sensor. what do you guys think it could be

tanc

Did you check all your grounds? Make sure they are secure and corrosive free. Check hma for all the major grounds in the system.



With a multi-meter check your alternator output. Check to see if their is an excessive draw anywhere in the system. Make sure all the alternator wires are corrosive free.



As your lights dim or after does the radio stop playing?

Stocker

That's describing classic alternator failure. Your battery will be able to get you down the road for ~20 minutes without an alternator, so no surprise there. I seem to recall there is a fusible link in line with the +B wire coming from the alternator. You should have good continuity between the charging output stud on the alternator and the + contact on the battery. If not, there's a problem. If you can rig it up to be safe with the engine running, check the voltage drop over that same wire. It should be less than half a volt (a lot less, ideally) or there's a problem.



When you are running on a battery starting from a full charge, the car will act normally at first. Then you will have a loss of power. Your headlights will dim. Your radio may freak out and/or turn off. Your gauges might go nuts when you use the windshield wipers or turn signal. Then it just slooooooowwwwss doooowwwwwwnnn and you've got to call roadside assistance. If you notice the symptoms, you might be able to buy a minute or two of extra driving time (to get to a parts house) if you avoid using anything that increases engine load or electrical system output (no radio, no A/C, no wipers, no headlights, if possible) and use the lowest engine speed practicable.



Take the alternator that's on the car now, to a DIFFERENT chain auto parts store and ask them to show you what they are using to make their call that the alternator is good. If it's putting out proper volts but not enough current, and they only tested for volts, the might have called it good in error.

187sks

I've seen alternators that worked until they got warm also, although rarely, This sounds like an alternator to me also.

holeshot69

Thats current issue for sure. Keep in mind the battery and starter only function at crank< then the battery is just a filter . Next up ground would be an issue< however you may have total shut down or non start right from the get go. So locical answer is that the force is leaving you luke! The electrics run off the alternator once the vehicle is started sooooo.....um yea get it load tested!

my98tiburon

yea ive trouble shooted all that you guys have said, i was with a mechanic yestrday we tested the alternator output and the battery , we checked all grounds and everything appears normal, we took a little over an hour and checked pretty much everything that has to deal with the electrical system, the alternator was charging the battery , we disconnnected the negative terminal on the battery and the car still was running



the conclusion we have come to is that the connector that plugs in the alternator might have a bad wire.



which would probably be an impossible part to find even on a junk car .