[DMCForum] Possible alternator trouble and more

["usndmc" <usndmc@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ok everyone, get ready for a long one:

A little over a month ago I replaced my original 90-amp Motorola 
with a D150 from John Hervey, just as a preventative step. My 
original Motorola was still working fine, but I figured I would 
upgrade it before it failed and left me stranded instead of after. 

Everything was working great the last month, until about 5 days ago, 
I started noticing that once in a while as I would accelerate, 
particularly in 1st and 2nd gear, through around 1500-1900 RPMs I 
would hear a whining screeching sound like a rusty wheel spinning 
that needed some lubrication kind of thing, and coinciding with the 
noise the voltmeter would dip from its normal 13.5-14 down to about 
12.5 until the noise stopped. It usually only lasted for about 3-5 
seconds. I tried 3 different times in the driveway manipulating the 
throttle from the engine to replicate the symptom but could not.

Then this afternoon on my drive to work, when I was about 10 minutes 
away, the voltmeter dropped down to about 11 (it was just a hair 
above the red line in between 8 and 13). The noise from before was 
not present, and the volts never went back up the rest of the drive. 
I tried quickly having a look in the parking lot at work but 
couldn't see or smell anything really out of the ordinary in the 
engine bay. When I came out to drive home, the voltmeter was in the 
same spot right around 11 for the entire drive home, and if I 
pressed the gas down a fair bit and put a decent load on the engine 
trying to accelerate it would shudder and kick and the tachometer 
would go erratic, although with light acceleration I was able to 
maintain any constant speed (the drive home is about 70 mph). 
Usually the idle in my car is right at 750-850 all the time. As I 
got a little closer to home I noticed it started idling right at 
1000. In the driveway at home I was messing around gunning the 
engine a couple times and letting the idle settle back down and it 
did drop from 1000 down to about 950 at one point.

I can't see anything really out of the order from looking. Both 
belts are new and appear to still be fine. The battery light works 
of course but never illuminated the whole time. I have no idea where 
to start here. I know, the first thing I should do is call John 
Hervey. I did, and he's out of town for a few days so no help there 
for the time being. I'd appreciate any insights, tips, and advice on 
what to do here, or even an explanation of what could be going on. 
Should I grab my tools and head out tonight and put the Motorola 
back in to make sure I can get to work tomorrow morning?? (yes the D 
is my only car) Thanks a lot everyone for any help whatsoever!

Dave
#5968

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