Battery good bought April this year (Walmart).
Alternator changed few years back and recently tested and overcharging @16v per shop (AutoZone).
Replaced + and - battery cable.
Replaced serpentine belt.
Checked grounds from alt & batt (good).

Car still loses power at idle or when driving (vsa light, abs light, comes on) but will kick itself back on before it dies and be at full power.
After turning car off because dash lights came on, if car left off for a few minutes, car will start with no hesitation like nothing happened.

I've scanned the site for problems and have done what others have mentioned only to still have this problem. Alternator would be my guess but I'd hate to take that dive again. Tensioner pulley shakes/vibrates during idle after belt replaced. Pulley maybe? Have an AC comp clutch relay order on the way. Any other possible causes?

 

No one? Tested under hood fuses. Light tested rr defroster coil fuse and a relay clicks alot and light is dim. Swapped alternator again. Now at a dead battery. Tests good but needing recharge.

 

Do you have a multimeter? I'm new to the TL, but it's pretty easy to check the battery and charging systems by checking voltage during operation.

Battery at rest should be at 12.5 volts or higher to be good.
Battery when on/idling should be like 13.5-14v for a good alternator. 16v seems high to me, but I've been on older gen cars for awhile.

I would guess an alternator too, but I wouldn't know why it would only charge when almost dead.

 

ELD or regulator issues? Are you sure the belt isn't slipping when you see the pulley shake/vibrate?

 

Appreciate your response. Battery at rest is at 11.8v. tester says to recharge and battery is good. I understand 11.8 is pretty much dead. Going to try another alternator again today.

 

Thanks for reply. Is it easy to swap regulators on these alternators? Or does it involve some soldering? I see no slipping of the belt when car is idling. Tensioner pully stopped shaking/vibrating after car warmed up. Changed ac relay and see no difference. Disconnected HFL. (Can u leave unplugged)?. Still wondering about a dim test light when testing rr defroster coil. Al other fuses light up bright but not this one. Is that normal?

 

Did more inspecting. I'm sure this leak got into my alternator(s) and messed em up. On to the next I guess. So much for replacing valve cover gaskets. @222,XXX miles I'm guessing she's about done for the time being.

 

The voltage regulator for this alternator is right on the alternator itself, you cannot just swap it. I can tell you that because I destroyed an alternator and know it for sure. You can however, take the alternator off and have it rebuilt. My other question is also, what alternator did you replace it with? OEM or aftermarket? Some aftermarket ones are just crap in my opinion. Also, did you actually replace the valve cover gasket because it was obviously not a good job. The root of your problem is all that oil leak.

 

Remanufactured AutoZone alturdnators. I didn't replace them, I took it car to a shop and they replaced the valve cover gaskets. I noticed my engine oil level is good and has been though. But! My power steering reservoir is near empty and I've had to fill it more than usual. Do I have a pump leak or is it minor like the o ring replacement? I admit I haven't swapped the o ring due to stripped 10mm head and im not getting a whine from that area. You're right about this being the root problemo though. *Sigh

 

Certain aftermarket alternators are just poor quality, honestly you would be better off with a used OEM one that test good or even just getting a Denso one from Rockauto, especially if its overcharging. Also looking at the leak and where most of the "Wet" part of the leak is that appears to be P/S fluid, since your reservoir is low on fluid and a leaking P/S pump will work its way down that same path. You can confirm this by following up that path with a bright light, these pumps tend to leak from the back cover o-ring. The grime farther to the right in that photo is more than likely old oil from the valve cover gaskets before they were changed.

Also last time I had my alternator off and was poking around in that area, unless the oil was spraying from your P/S system or engine oil from the head/valve cover was coming out in decent size drops or pouring, that leak won't get into the alternator, your alternator both old and new would have oil residue on it as well if it was getting leaked on.

Your tensioner assembly shouldn't be shaking either, some minor back and forth movement is to be expected, especially with the A/C on since the compressor clutch engages and disengages, but other wise it shouldn't be that noticeable.

The best thing to do for leaks is to clean the whole area up really well and then check to see where the fluid is actually coming from.

 

Thank you for your response. It shed alot of light on my situation. I will look into a denso alternator, and also replace my power steering pump. The alternator I pulled first did have alot of oil grime on and inside it. Don't know why I overlooked it but it makes much more sense. My tensioner no longer shakes. Weird how it did that after I changed my drive belt but since then no more. Thanks again though for your insight.

 

I've had batteries and alts "test good" but still fail.. Start throwing parts now

 

This is what I would do, because it's such a mess around there:

- get a used OEM Denso alternator off LKQ online off a low mileage crashed car, via ebay. This is exactly what I did, with an alternator off a car with just 54k miles, cost me just $65 and it's OEM.
- take that existing alternator off and clean up the entire area. Your alternator's internals are probably getting grounded, causing that high charging condition, from all the crud getting dropped in through its outer casing.
- take off the ps pump and reseal the entire pump, especially the large odd shaped back cover o-ring as mentioned above. You can get an entire reseal kit for $17 off amazon. I used this kit to reseal my pump more than a year ago.

 

O rings replaced in power steering pump. Area cleaned. No leaks. Another "good" alternator put in. Fully charged battery put in. Aaaand charge light didn't appear then 1 minute later it appears, alternator not keeping battery charged and battery returned to dead status. At the end of the day after all I've done, I'm sure the culprit is an exposed wire or a bad ground somewhere in the depths of the car. I can't think of anything else. And this issue has exhausted me. I'm done with this car.

 

So that leaves the ELD as the prime suspect since it is what tells the regulator when to charge.

 

Thanks for reply. Do you happen to know the part number and where this ELD is located?

 

I thought the ELD was internal to the alternator, might be mistaken though.


why do you say "good"? where'd you get it

 

Good as in tested "good." Swapped previous for another reman at AZ and asked to bench test and they said it passed. Told them on my 3rd one and asked for test right off the bat.

 

Can't find anything online regards to the 3g TL having this ELD. Only come across sites/forums with civics and a tsx.

 

Reman'd Denso found here: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...ter+motor,4152