1990 electrical madness!!!

[sohc90adel]

So i get in my ride(love my damn ride) I put the key in the ignition and turn..... nothing! What the hell! Im pissed so i try angain and by accident hold the key turned and after a ssecond or two the car starts! But it starts going crazy, Rpms go down car shakes(not to mention the timing chain rattling) like it where about to turn off and does! I start again and it does the same thing. This time it doesnt turn off and then rpms go back to normal. Im thinking ok i have to get to class so i take off. Everything normal no loss of power everything feels good until i turn on the radio. Radio goes on for a second and then turns off. The clock on the dash also turns off and i cant turn on the dome light hmmmm. Whatever im late for class so i shift to third and hit the gas. Shift to forth and the radio and clock turn on? Looks like a loose connection but what do i know. Dome light works also. These things keep happening every once and a while now and its starting to piss me off. Sometimes it does it sometimes it doesnt. Somebody needs to help me. I have read a lot of threads talking about ground wires being messed up. But i dont know hope somebody can help me out.

[1991240xs]

alternator is begginning to fail you and will leave you stranded soon.

[180fan]

easy way to test your alternator. Turn on your car with all the electrical stuff on aka your headlights, and stereo. Go to your battery and pop off the - terminal. If the car's power stays on and doesnt fluctuate, then your alternator's fine. If it does fluctuate, check the deflection in your belts aka how tight it is. If your belts are within spec I think for 89/90 the deflection for an old belt on the alternator is around 7mm and the limit is 11mm. It could also just be that your belt is worn down, you can try replacing them too. Reason I say them is because your alternator belt is behind one other belt if I remember correctly. Also check your ground, that is another problem I had. If it does turn out to be the alternator, get a new one from the dealership or something. Just be sure to get it new, not reman. Reason for that is because if you get it reman, they don't replace all the stuff on the inside, just the stuff that's damaged. So you may get a reman alternator with an old bearing and all that, aka junk. So get it new.

Tip: For SOHC motors, it's easier to go from the bottom to get to the alternator than the top, although you may have to drain your coolant and move the lower rad hose to get to it.

[yellow_jacket]

Never, never ever ever disconnect the battery terminals with the car running. Sure if the alternator is bad nothing will happen. The problem is when they are good it will cause a voltage spike and very bad things can happen.

As for your problem. Check all the wires around the battery and coming off of the positive battery cable. You should also check all of your grounds. It sounds like you've got a loose wire somewhere. Possibly a bad battery cable.

[sohc90adel]

Yeah i was thinking more ground or loose wire or something to that effect im definatly going to check all the grounds and then belts but i doubt the alternator is bad though.

[JDM_180SX]

before you spend 150$ for a new alt. check your alternator fuse in the engine bay. that only cost 15$. i learned the hardway when i replaced the alternator and it still diddnt work. just my 2¢