Odd Power Problem? Thoughts?

[Franga]

Hi All,

I own a 1996 VS Executive. I have just recently put 1x 1000Watt Kenwood amp, 1x 1500Watt Kenwood Sub. + 2x 6Inch rear speakers and 2x 6.5Inch Splits in the front.

My problem has only been happening over the past few weeks. Allthough now its happening every time i start the car. It apears that something goes wrong "electrical" wise. When i start the card and the head unit turns itself on, it then flicks on and off on and off. + other lights on the dash flicker also. Almost like im not getting enough power. Once i drive its fine but its the initial starting thats the problem. Car starts fine when cd player is off. And now when i turn the car on my CD player's settings reset.

My thoughts would be the Alternator maybe being to small? i think its an 85amp (just a guess). Any thoughts on the matter?

 

[maginoodle]

if you are loosing the preset stations etc, it sounds like the full time power wire isnt hooked up correctly ie doesnt have power all the time.
Which dash lights flicker? Is it the oil light etc or the dash illum lights?
Do you have a good earth? if you have a bad earth it will act the same as having a bad power supply.

 

[yZoH]

Your system is no where near powerful enough to make an impact on your alternator mate. Check all your connections, Earth mainly, An constant power as maginoodle has said. Also check all your wiring that you have run an makesure it hasnt broken somewhere.

Cheers
MaT

 

[Franga]

Yea ill check the connections. Im not sure why this would be happening its been working perfect for almost 3 months fine now. Its only been happening over the past few weeks and have gotten worse over the last 3 days now to the point where i lose my settings on the cd player. At first it was just a power flicker. Now its full on loss in power to my head unit.

The lights that flicker is mostly the back LED's in my Air Con, Hazard lights etc.. And i think the "Check Engine" light also flickers.

 

[Franga]

Ok so just an update on this.

I pulled my stereo out and low and behold i did find a wire that had come bare and was obviously earthing out and causing major problems. After fixing that all is good on that front.

But it does apear my Alternator is screwed. When i go to start my car i have to hold the Rev's at about 3,500 to be able to turn my head lights on or anything electrical. All seems fine whilst driving but if i do not hold the Rev's up when turning my heads lights on my car dies (complete loss of power). Would i be correct in saying my alternator is on its way out?

Secondly i did some checking of error codes on my computer i get the 2 following codes:

Code 23 - Mass Air Temp Sensor (MAT)
Code 73 - Pressure Control Solenoid Current - Auto Transmission Only

Im assumming code 23 is caused from the sensor that is left sitting in my car after fitting my Pod filter. Would this be a correct guess? But what is code 73? any idea's? Would this have anything to do with the problems i am having?

 

[Immortality]

make a hole in the intake tube just after the pod filter and fit the temp sensor, check the output voltage of the altenator with a multimeter, it should be 14volts. also, what condition is the battery in and make sure you have good battery terminal connections

 

[Franga]

Yea i put a multimeter on the alternator it was putting out 14 volts. I got the battery tested and checked and it seemed in ok condition untill you removed the caps, Burn marks on the inside almost looked like the battery had started cooking itself from the inside. I replaced it with a decent battery and most of my problems seemed to have come right. Stereo is now back in and working fine havnt had any power loss..