theunfrailhale

Hey, all this is my first post and im hoping to get some good ideas here.

I have an 02 lancer OZ rally, and its got just over 100k on it. I try to do all my own work on the car, i like knowing whats going on and such. About a year ago I changed the alternator and the alternator belt, one gave out and then the other... I also ended up putting in a new battery shortly afterwards. between then and now, a problem developed where my all of my electrical system fluctuates and flickers. sometimes i can find a certain rpm where it stabilizes, but for the most part, everything is flickering. I can deal with it, and have been, untill this week when due to electical fluctuations it killed my iPhone.

I took the day off, tore stuff apart, I had autozone check the battery and the alternator, and they said that they were fine. I have read that improper grounding can cause this but I havent touched anything in the car but the aforementioned parts and brakes/oil... I re-ran my power cabling today, put in a new negative cable and a new positive terminal... cleaned all the connections, tested the leads that run from the alternator to relay box, everythings good..

one thing I DID notice, is that the frequency was different today post repair than pre... another cause i have heard is the alternator belt not being tight enough... I have mine fairly tight (i think) but i dont know really. The FSM talks about matching the resonant frequency of a belt to ensure tightness... i dont have the tools to do that however... where its at, it has a 'tone' when i 'pluck it', which seem a bit on the tight side, but im not sure, so im askin =) do i need to bring out a guitar tuner?lol.

any suggestions?

ps im sorry for the LONG intro post, but more info is better than not enough?

Thanks in advance,

Dave
Las Vegas, NV

turbolancer02

iTrader: (10)

My belt squeaks like a **** when i start it , but it still charges and i have no fluctuations ...the only thing overtightening will do is kill the front bearing in the alternator...

you do know theres more then one ground on the engine right?

one runs to the block as well as the one that goes up front behind the drivers headlight...I'd check the grounds thats what it sounds like to me

theunfrailhale

i have a wiring diagram from the FSM that lists all the grounds, I saw the one i think you're talking about, its right next to the battery and links into the negative terminal...

I saw someone post about re-doing their grounds with like 6Ga copper, so I think Ill give that a shot and reinforce my grounds...

very thanks for the reply man. =)

02-OZ-RALLY187

I have the same problem! I noticed that my lights flicker as my radiator fan turns on and off. My dash & headlights to flicker multiple times as this happens. And as my fans turn on and off i get this high pitched winding or electrical humming noise. I was thinking it may be the fan relay or fan timing fuse or switch. I was also told to check my coolant temperature relay or switch. This problem also robs power from the motor at least for me so i hope we can get some answers for this problem. Good Luck!

theunfrailhale

The thing about my situation that made it peculiarly hard to diagnose is that I changed a few major electrical components all at the same time.

I bought a new battery, The duralast GOLD, which was supposed to be the best that @ut0zon3 offered. after that died then I ended up replacing my alternator. It was shortly after that that I started having my Flickering problem. It would affect my cars engine performance and occasionally my car would stall in traffic etc.

I eventually got @ut0zon3 to warranty both parts, but it seems that the Battery would be ultimately the defective part, for a few reasons.

1, the problem would be more common after the car had warmed up, or during the summer months, which in Vegas got pretty hot, and thats hard on batteries.

2, according to the guys at the parts store, the battery is the front end for your electrical system, acting as sort of a smoothing capacitor for the alternators varying input. If the battery is failing to hold a charge, then the power you are getting is going to be more fluctuating due to the RPM changes w the alternator. I know the alternator has a voltage regulation circuit built in, but that usually is effective as a topend limit, and not as a capacitor which reacts to dips in current.

Anyways, with those two parts changed my problem went away, But I had also previously ruled out ; having consistent effective grounds, and I replaced my negative battery cable running from my alternator.

Good Luck and let me know what you observe. I am always interested in diagnostic logic and insight. I imagine you could convince a salesman to let you try out a battery and see if that would fix your problem (for free).

Dave.

518rally

I have a similar issue, i noticed the other day that my brake lights were out so a friend and I went to change them we noticed the inside of the bulb was charred and so was the socket. we decided to test the bulbs while they were out of the housing. The brake lights are working but there are two filaments and the brighter brake light part isn't getting enough power to fully light. I have also noticed that the windows seem to go up slower then I believe they should. And when I am rolling them up or down the head lights dim. The car has wiring for an amp in it and a box in the engine bay that they power cable runs to and then to the battery. Any thoughts?

mcgarvey

Is this some kind of aftermarket cheapo "remanufactured" alternator, like you would get from Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, etc.?

Those things are junk and I wouldn't put one on my car if it was free.

518rally

No alternator hasn't been touched