Possible Charging Problem, IDK for sure yet

NoLimit95

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Ok, here is what's happening.

Car cranks fine, no hesitation when it starts. Air ride pumps fine but did sound kinda weak. I dropped my son off at school this morning and on my way home, my EATC unit statrs flashing it's display on all the way. I mean everything it has to display, is displayed and then it reads "OFF" and then it goes completey off and shows nothing at all and then flashes it all again and when it shows it all, the engine has a slight stall to it, like the alternator is trying to go bad but the only other thing that shows any sign of dimming is when the OD light dims a little. It doesn't go out all the way but it does dim when the EATC unit is doing it's flashing thing.

When it reads OFF, everything is fine and it might read OFF for a few minutes but then it flashes again. I took it to have the alternator tested and to have the battery tested too. They said the battery was looking bad to them so, I got another brand new 850/1000 and put it in while I was in the parking lot. It cranked up the same as before but the air ride pumped up stronger than before. Quieter and faster! I set everything on the stereo again and thought I was good to go and after getting down the HWY a few miles with the air on, it started flashing again and the air conditioner went off and was coming back on. I turned around and took it back and told them to check it again. They did and still said the alternator was checking out fine.

I have the extra DZA1 in the big tool box in the garage, if that's the problem but I don't know if that's what it is or not. I thought it might be the VCRM or whatever it's called because it was the EATC unit doing the flashing. The one that's in it came out of the 93 we had here. I sent it to Jamie before I ever bought the car. No other dash light are flashing. There is no light show like you would see when the alternator is going bad or no power from the battery. I have seen that before in that car and it's not doing all that. That was 3 years ago when that happened. Roger recommends doing my own voltage check which I'm going to do maybe tonight or tomorrow. I'll have to catch it while it's flashing to make sure it's not the alternator. Blinkers, air ride work fine while it's flashing. The chime has a funny sound when it's blinking. Sounds wavy but it quits when it's not flashing. The air conditioner shuts down completely when it flashes so, I cut it off and it flashed a few more times and then it quit about 5 miles before I got home. Any ideas what it might be? If needed, I can get a video of it and post it on YouTube if it will help. I never seen one do this before.

It's doing this because I was talking good about it the other day and it knows I was typing about it. Figured if I didn't say it out loud it wouldn't hear me but it still knows. I knew Friday the 13th was gonna get me. Always does.
 
I don't know what it could be but check it out THOROUGHLY! My 93 EATC was acting funny turning itself on and off before it burned to the ground.
 
I don't know what it could be but check it out THOROUGHLY! My 93 EATC was acting funny turning itself on and off before it burned to the ground.

Man, don't even.... :shifty:

Roger is right, I surely don't need that episode all over again. Now I'm going to be thinking that I'm gonna be on fire again, everywhere I go. I have something to put it out this time though. Right behind my drivers seat and easy to get to.
 
Believe me, I don't wish it on anybody...especially you! It's just when I hear about the EATC turning on and off, it scares me. However, my Son drove it about 5 miles like that. If he would have pulled over and disconnected the battery, I probably could have saved it.
 
Terry, I just looked on identifix for you. The eatc and the airbag light share the same power from fuse 16 in the in dash fuse block. I'm starting to think your eatc is bad because none of your other lights are flickering, so that possibly might rule out the alternator.
 
I had the same symptoms with my eatc after I got my car back from the body shop..I drove it for a day or so after getting it back and it started acting up like how you were explaining. Turns out they disconnected the battery and didn't tighten the terminal end all the way so the cable came off the battery while driving and was intermittently making contact so the car was essentially running of the alternator only during my day of driving. Figured it out when the car didnt start at all after parking it. When the car is having voltage issues it does funky things..I'd check with a voltmeter while its running to see what kind if voltage its putting out..maybe a ground problem?
 
I just checked the voltage and I'm getting 12.8 with the battery only, not running and 13.7-14.4 with it running and AC on MAX, headlights on bright (all 4) and defogger on too. Now it's not doing it. I drove it down the road and got on it to try and make it flicker but it's not doing it now. Today after it had set on the battery charger from 8:00am to 1:30pm, it started flickering right when I cranked it up. So, I know it's not the battery and now there is a new one in and it done it after leaving the parts store. It's not heat related or it wouldn't have done it after being in the garage all day on charge. Might be the EATC but I just don't see how it can flash and make the engine lose power. It's not much but I notice it when it flashes. If it does it again, I'll check the voltage and hopefully catch the problem.
 
Ok, here is what's happening.

Car cranks fine, no hesitation when it starts. Air ride pumps fine but did sound kinda weak. I dropped my son off at school this morning and on my way home, my EATC unit statrs flashing it's display on all the way. I mean everything it has to display, is displayed and then it reads "OFF" and then it goes completey off and shows nothing at all and then flashes it all again and when it shows it all, the engine has a slight stall to it, like the alternator is trying to go bad but the only other thing that shows any sign of dimming is when the OD light dims a little. It doesn't go out all the way but it does dim when the EATC unit is doing it's flashing thing.

When it reads OFF, everything is fine and it might read OFF for a few minutes but then it flashes again. I took it to have the alternator tested and to have the battery tested too. They said the battery was looking bad to them so, I got another brand new 850/1000 and put it in while I was in the parking lot. It cranked up the same as before but the air ride pumped up stronger than before. Quieter and faster! I set everything on the stereo again and thought I was good to go and after getting down the HWY a few miles with the air on, it started flashing again and the air conditioner went off and was coming back on. I turned around and took it back and told them to check it again. They did and still said the alternator was checking out fine.

I have the extra DZA1 in the big tool box in the garage, if that's the problem but I don't know if that's what it is or not. I thought it might be the VCRM or whatever it's called because it was the EATC unit doing the flashing. The one that's in it came out of the 93 we had here. I sent it to Jamie before I ever bought the car. No other dash light are flashing. There is no light show like you would see when the alternator is going bad or no power from the battery. I have seen that before in that car and it's not doing all that. That was 3 years ago when that happened. Roger recommends doing my own voltage check which I'm going to do maybe tonight or tomorrow. I'll have to catch it while it's flashing to make sure it's not the alternator. Blinkers, air ride work fine while it's flashing. The chime has a funny sound when it's blinking. Sounds wavy but it quits when it's not flashing. The air conditioner shuts down completely when it flashes so, I cut it off and it flashed a few more times and then it quit about 5 miles before I got home. Any ideas what it might be? If needed, I can get a video of it and post it on YouTube if it will help. I never seen one do this before.

It's doing this because I was talking good about it the other day and it knows I was typing about it. Figured if I didn't say it out loud it wouldn't hear me but it still knows. I knew Friday the 13th was gonna get me. Always does.

my mark was doing that till the alternator died when the batteries dead cell got to it and caused a total short
 
I just checked the voltage and I'm getting 12.8 with the battery only, not running and 13.7-14.4 with it running and AC on MAX, headlights on bright (all 4) and defogger on too.

those are very good numbers actually. those things pull a lot of power.
 
Now it's showing 15.7 while idling and then it suddenly jumps down to 13.7 and doesn't come off that number. Nothing else is on. The display on the EATC is going off completely when I rev it up but at a steady idle, it displays "OFF". When it's showing "OFF", I can rev it up and the display dims down a little before flickering and then going off. Still losing power with the flickers.
 
Those are good numbers except for the somewhat high 15.7. Could the cable to the alternator be loose or maybe your battery cables or terminals slightly loose? I know the alternator passed the load test so could it be an intermittent voltage regulator problem?
 
Terry, I sent you a pm. Yes 15.7 is too high. Anything over 14.6 to 14.7 is too high. As ochomark said, intermittent voltage regulator problem. Hopefully it's still under warranty. At least they're easy to change on our cars.
 
Yeah, it's under warranty and they said the same thing. The voltage regulator is going bad and I have seen 15.8 too. I'll have another one in the morning and will post back.
 
Not sure why I didn't try sooner but I disconnected the battery completely and drove it to the store and it didn't flicker one time. Just before I disconnected it, I had it running and pulled out of the garage and the flicker started right then. No alternator connected and everything was fine. All I have to do in the morning is take my son almost a mile away to school and come back home and then drive it to the parts store and swap it out in the parking lot. The air ride is turned off so, I'm really only using brake lights to drive and neither place is far away.

Sorry, the alternator is what I disconnected, not the battery.
 
quick hijack??
My car has been tearing up the battery in her everytime i run the radio for more then 20 min. i have a duralast gold 1000CCA battery. its about 2 years old and was replaced under warrenty for well doing the same thing before. but this time battery appears to be good. last had bad cell. what is causing such a high drain on the system to kill the battery in 20 min? Now the amp is dead the radio is off and the car sitting with the door open and trunk open killed the battery to the point i needed to jump start it.

any suggestions?
 
Sounds like another dead cell battery again. If yours is anything like mine, you better get another one before the 3 years is up or it will cost you. Mine is free for 3 years and then pro-rated after that. It's an 850-1000 too and $59.00 off of $140 adds up.

You probably need another alternator too because it sounds like you're running off the battery all the time and it's reserve. Put a volt meter on the battery while it's running and see if you're showing at least 13.6-13.8 volts

Can't remember if you have air ride still but if so, keep the switch off and it will last longer until you get it fixed.
 
It was in fact the alternator. The man tried telling me that it wouldn't flicker anything inside if it was over charging but I told him that apparently he hadn't ever worked on a Mark VIII and he still didn't believe what I was telling him so I connected it in the parking lot and showed him that it was flickering when I revved it up to around 1500 rpm and he seen the voltage shooting up to 15.7-15.9v. He then said it was over charging but still said I probably had a short. I just told him to go in and bring me the other one out so I could swap them.

He came out about 5 min later and I had just got the old one out and I put the new one in, connected it and cranked the car. I revved it up to 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, 4000 and nothing was flickering anymore. He tested it and it was showing 13.7-13.9 and it never bumped up any further. He tested the old alternator and it wasn't showing that it was charging at all??? That's what he said, not what I actually witnessed. Not my problem anymore. So anyway, all is good again and there are no shorts in the electrical system.

That Auto Zone alternator lasted me from Feb-2010 to Sept-2013 for future reference. Replaced for free! If bought without replacement, it would have been $164+ tax. I think 3 1/2 years is pretty good for one of those.
 
I think 3 1/2 years is pretty good for one of those.

lol, how far did you drive it though Terry?

mine isn't charging like it used to, it was having trouble staying above 12 with the air, headlights, radio, cooling fan, and defrost all on, when the air ride compressor kicked on it was like 11.5. yikes.
i want two alternators.
 
lol, how far did you drive it though Terry?

mine isn't charging like it used to, it was having trouble staying above 12 with the air, headlights, radio, cooling fan, and defrost all on, when the air ride compressor kicked on it was like 11.5. yikes.
i want two alternators.

You got a point there about how far I drove it lmao... I really don't know how many miles I put on it but it had well over a hundred WOT's, which usually kills those alternators but that one took the beating every time. I meant to say that with the air, radio with A/M amp, defogger, all 4 headlights on, it was reading 13.3-13.4 and when the air ride comes on, it goes down to 12.9 which isn't bad.

Chris, it sounds like yours isn't charging at all if 12 is all your getting. Just my battery alone is like 12.6-12.8. You might wanna stick another one in before you end up seeing a light show when you least expect it.
 
i see 14.4 when its unloaded, so its still working properly, and the voltage regulator is functioning.
but i feel the overall output isn't what it used to be.
i should throw the old spare in the trunk just in case and look at mine when i get the chance.
 
About a year ago my original alternator took a dump..I believe it was also a bad voltage regulator, except from what I remember it wasn't charging the battery at all during my 45 minute commute to work in the mornings. By the time I'd get almost all the way to work I'd notice one of my headlights flickering because the battery was slowly draining and the alternator wasnt putting out enough voltage to keep the balast on the one side lit..then eventually the battery drained enough to the point it wouldnt start. I took the alternator to a local guy who rebuilds alternators, starters and small electric motors. He tested it and said it was a bad voltage regulator, luckily he had a rebuilt oem alternator on the shelf..havent had a problem since.
 

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