Hey all,
I've done a lot of reading on my local forums and r3v, but haven't managed to solve my issue.
A while ago my cluster lit up while driving (ABS, park brake, brake system and battery light). After a quick search I found the culprit to be my alternator, which wasnt charging. I bought a new regulator which had no effect, all lights still on, alt not charging. Swapped my alternator out for a "known working" one, all the other lights remained on except the ABS light which was on at idle but shut off at around 2000 rpm. Bought a reman alternator and installed it, went for a quick drive and everything appeared to be in working order. Alternator output at idle was 14.5v.
Later that afternoon I went to fire the car up and noticed that with ignition on the only warning light lit was oil pressure. What makes it even weirder was that all of the SI lights were on except for the first green one. I proceeded to remove the cluster, and noticed that the blue alternator exciter wire insulation was warped and it had shorted on the grey/red wire for the abs light in the cluster. Before noticing the damaged wire I checked the voltage @ battery, alt b+ and exciter terminals. Exciter showed 4.7v, while b+ and battery were at around 12.3v. Dismantled the cluster, no visible damage anywhere. Swapped the battery light bulb with the oil pressure light bulb and the oil pressure light lit up, meaning that the lights themselves are working. I ran a length of wire from the alternator to the cluster, and now all voltages are around 12.3v. Still, dash problem persists and my alt still wont charge.
The car is an M50 swapped E30. Everything else works perfectly, car runs, drives and starts up fine which leads me to believe this isnt an engine/alt grounding issue. All my gauges work, even the econometer which should rule out any SI- battery problems. This is driving me nuts.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I've done a lot of reading on my local forums and r3v, but haven't managed to solve my issue.
A while ago my cluster lit up while driving (ABS, park brake, brake system and battery light). After a quick search I found the culprit to be my alternator, which wasnt charging. I bought a new regulator which had no effect, all lights still on, alt not charging. Swapped my alternator out for a "known working" one, all the other lights remained on except the ABS light which was on at idle but shut off at around 2000 rpm. Bought a reman alternator and installed it, went for a quick drive and everything appeared to be in working order. Alternator output at idle was 14.5v.
Later that afternoon I went to fire the car up and noticed that with ignition on the only warning light lit was oil pressure. What makes it even weirder was that all of the SI lights were on except for the first green one. I proceeded to remove the cluster, and noticed that the blue alternator exciter wire insulation was warped and it had shorted on the grey/red wire for the abs light in the cluster. Before noticing the damaged wire I checked the voltage @ battery, alt b+ and exciter terminals. Exciter showed 4.7v, while b+ and battery were at around 12.3v. Dismantled the cluster, no visible damage anywhere. Swapped the battery light bulb with the oil pressure light bulb and the oil pressure light lit up, meaning that the lights themselves are working. I ran a length of wire from the alternator to the cluster, and now all voltages are around 12.3v. Still, dash problem persists and my alt still wont charge.
The car is an M50 swapped E30. Everything else works perfectly, car runs, drives and starts up fine which leads me to believe this isnt an engine/alt grounding issue. All my gauges work, even the econometer which should rule out any SI- battery problems. This is driving me nuts.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.