Car has very high voltage

J · 2008-01-02T04:37:34+00:00

I bought my 1994 Chevrolet Corsica brand new and it has no modifications.The car is well taken care of, has a 6 cylinder engine with 155,000 miles,is in excellent condition and has never given me any problems until now.For the past few months the vehicle's electrical system intermittentlysurges from 12 volts to 19 volts (according to my voltmeter) at randomtimes. When it surges up, a red light on the instrument panel that is shapedlike a battery comes on. When it drops back down to 12 volts the light goesout.When it surges up, my headlights get very bright and my heater blower speedsup. I have replaced 4 headlight bulbs in as many months but nothing else hasblown out.Sometimes the power surges up and down every few seconds, while at othertimes I can drive for hours without it surging at all. I have never smelledanything burning, nor have any of the fuses been warm to the touch when Itouched them.It does surge more often at high RPM than low. However, it sometimes doesn'tseem to be affected by RPM. Sometimes it is fine until I accelerate at whichtime it surges, while at other times it doesn't surge at all when Iaccelerate.I cannot find a pattern to this in regards to hitting bumps in the road,temperature and humidity, etc. The only item of auxiliary equipment in thecar is a police scanner and I have verified that it is properly connected tothe vehicle's electrical system. None of these seem to be the cause.Due to the fact that I am worried that the car will become damaged, I haveinstalled a brand new battery, alternator (that contains an internal voltageregulator), and battery cables. I have made a visual inspection of the manywires and cables under the hood and they all appear to be sound and in goodcondition.Will someone in this newsgroup please give me some advice on what to lookfor? Thank you for the assistance.

Jan 02, 2008 22 Replies

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Scott Dorsey 18 years ago

No, a little hydraulic fluid won't hurt anything. It may even prevent future corrosion.

And where does it go?

--scott

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Scott Dorsey 18 years ago

An open link on a sense line will prevent the regulator from seeing the operating voltage. Hence, regulation goes to hell.

--scott

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philthy 18 years ago

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