[W126 Coupe] Strange gauge lights error, any ideas?

[Markus Meyer]

Josh,

One further thing to try is while car is idling, turn all as many electrical
things as you can - lights/fogs/high beams/radio/climate control/seat
heaters/defroster, etc, etc.  See what happens then under load.  Should drop
a little, but not much.

Next I'd have the battery tested.  BTW, did you check what its voltage was
with the car not running?

When I was debugging my recent charging issues, I left the voltmeter hooked
up and in the car with me while driving around, watching what was going on.

Markus

On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 1:31 AM, Josh Allen <heyallen at null-ptr.net> wrote:


> Markus,

> After testing today, it's sitting at 13.7-13.9 at idle, and 14.2 or so at ~

> 2k rpm.

> I was reading the same voltage indicated at the terminal block on the

> fender, the battery positive terminal, and the B+ terminal on the

> alternator.

>

> Looking in the charging system section of the ETM, I'm going to hook my

> oscilloscope to the B+ terminal of the alternator and see if it has an

> abnormal ripple, and failing that, I may just wander down to the Napa and

> see what they can tell with their analyzer.  It's still under warranty for

> most of another two years.

>

> The fuse on the top of the OVP was still good, I double checked, as well as

> having the OVP apart to clean up it's pcb which had some nasty flux residue

> or corrosion on the solder side of the board.

>

> (FYI: The alternator that is currently installed is PN:  RAY 2138381

> http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Detail.aspx?R=RSE2138381_0218228923  with

> a 72 month warranty.)

>

> -Josh

>

>

>

> On 2/24/2010 2:45 AM, Markus Meyer wrote:

> Josh,

>

> I'd start by checking battery voltages, resting (car not on) and with car

> running (this shows your alternator voltage), and go from there. Any idea

> what alternator was put in, where it came from, was it new, rebuilt, new

> regulator used, etc?

>

> Once you rule out a charging problem, you can move on to other things like

> the OVP.

>

> Markus

>

> Markus,

>

> The new alternator was whatever I could get from the Napa warehouse store,

> since that was the only alternator available on short notice at the time.

> It had a new regulator with it, and at the time was putting out 14.5-14.7v

> when running, but I don't know currently.

>

> I'll check up on the charging system today, one way or another, I just

> couldn't when I found it yesterday evening.

>

> Thanks,

> Josh

>

>

>

>

>

> Dan,

> The dim light is while the car is running, but not revved above idle.  Once

> I rev it up at all, the lights all glow brighter, in sync with each other,

> but with the battery light the brightest at all times.

>

>

>

> On 2/24/2010 7:55 AM, Dan Landiss wrote:

>

> Josh, could you clarify for me me whether the dim lights are BEFORE you

> start the car, or immediately AFTER? I recall some really crude method of

> distributing the grounds behind the instrument panel.

>

> on 2/24/2010 9:44 AM Josh Allen wrote:

>

>

>> When I start the car, the charging system indicator glows dimly, as well

>> as the brake wear light and the empty fuel system light, but both of the

>> latter lights are around half the intensity of the charging system light.

>>

> --

>

>

>

>

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