Hey guys I've noticed for awhile now that when I drive with music on and everything that at least 4 times a day my battery light turns on and my guage needle spikes to the red zone. I brought it to a dealer and they checked my system out and couldnt figure out why it would do it and of course didnt do it for them. Any ideas?

 

if you have another car or some one who can give you a ride pull out your alt and bring it up to a local parts store(most do testing for free) have them test it acouple of times

 

Autozone can check both the battery and alternator while they are still on the vehicle.

 

I have already had it check and its fine. I wouldve thought the GM dealer wouldve been able to figure it out but they couldnt. Their test on my sytem said it was good

 

It could be a bad or loose connection somewhere. I would check all your wires at the starter, alternator and all in between. Also check all the fuses and relays to make sure they are seated properly.

 

Ok all wires and all fuses are checked and everythin is connected and seated right. Any other ideas? lol. Is it possible it is my actual cluster board that is messed up?

 

more likely it's your alternator. same exactly thing happen to my jeep last weekend. if you were out driving and all of sudden the car die then yes it's the alternator. the battery guage needle should read between 12.5 to 14 anything below that is probably an alternator problem. i was going 75 mph on the expressway when my radio die thought i blew a fuse then the jeep lost power and completely shut down. i replace the alternator and the battery needle stay in between 13 and 14 now and have not spike down to zero like before. took the old alternator for a test at auto zone and it come up good. the guy said it probably test ok cuz it was charge up when it was on the jeep but eventually will die out again. i text one of jeep mechanic friend and he said the alternator voltage regulator is going bad that's why it's acting up like that.

 

my old 94 lumina did that, had a new alt and still did it. its a electrical prob so really cant diagnose it unless it happens while they are testing it. As long as it starts up and drives I would leave it be cus electrical probs Can Be an expensive fix. hope its just ur alt. when mine did it radio would flicker on and off lights would go dim and bright and even my dome light would flicker on and off. It did it all at diff times, like it only wanted one thing on at a time, so my car looked like it was possessed. I would turn car off wait 5 min and it would run fine for a week or so then do it again.

 

Are all your grounds clean?

 

Yea its my voltage regulator. But I have a system so I just ordered a 250amp from DC power. So just waiting for them to paint it black and send it out.