battery, alternator, or ground wire HELP
 

symptoms #1:

dimming lights in the dash, when I accelerate hard they lit back up. All the warning lights flashed on and off a couple of times then my radio went dead.

solution #1:

My battery was old so i replaced it thinking it was toast. I assumed the alternator was still good as it kept charging from the looks of it.(radio worked again after accelerating hard) I also looked at my belt, seemed fine, pulley wasn't loose on the alt. from the looks of it.

symptoms #2:

Drove again, all was fine, then the dash warning lights all came on again, flashed, and now are stuck on.

solution #2?

Could this be my ground wire?

any other ideas?

thanks guys, not sure I could keep my baby alive without this forum

Check the voltage at the battery posts with the engine running at idol. Should be
14 volts or so. If it's only 12 or so, your alternator is not charging. I've found with Bosch alternators, that after 165 thousand miles, the 2 brushes are so worn that they no longer contact the slip rings on the rotor. A new regulator solves this - it includes brushes.

Also make sure the positive terminal is not bad. When you check for voltage check it at the alt and battery to. See how much voltage is lost between the alt and battery.

by regulator, do you mean voltage? FCP doesn't seem to list one.

Heading out in the snow to trouble shoot it now. If the alt is OK, what are thoughts on the ground wire?

what about my dash lights? I still have juice in my battery as it 12 hours old, and still have bright head lights.

sorry, thought I had a signature set up, '96 850 non-turbo

Ground wire is possible. But check the positive terminal like I said. Check voltage. If you loose more than 1/4 of a volt the terminal is bad.
So measure output at the big wire on the alt. Then measure at the battery. If it seems lower probe the wire just before the terminal and if it is higher than the battery reading the terminal needs to be replaced.

So when I went out initially,

measured at battery posts, 12.5V off, 13.7V on idle.

went back out with your advice, and my alt seems to no longer be putting out, 11.5V everywhere, at bat., and at the alternator post.

It seems like my alt is kicking in and out, is that possible? I really don't want to cab to the store to spend money i don;t have. could it be something else?

I will go back out and try to measure at the alt posts, neg and positive, should have thought of that.

so from the large positive post and the mounting bolt I get 11.5V. The alt is gone, but is it weird that it is sporadic?

Do I have other options, can it be fixed, brushes or soemhting?

If your battery is good (think I read you replaced it) then the alternator would not be the cause, at least not for awhile until your new battery has run down.

I am supporting the ground theory.

It was the alternator, got a rebuilt one for 125$, all is good now.

I guess it was being sporadic, kicking in and out. The dash lights were from a lack of voltage.

thanks for all the help.

only one problem, I somehow have one nut left over, stupid me, have no idea where it is from....and it was cold in the snow so I had little patience.