As im driving down the highway, i notice my headlights, dashlights, tach and even my domelight are all flashing. as if i am turning my highbeams on. i dont know whats going on. i have a 91 hb w/ a zc sohc swap, did the swap about a month ago. please help. im lost.
Mike

 

If your driving and your headlights get really bad, it is possible that the alternator is putting out too much current/voltage. This is very bad because it could fry all the electronics in your car. I would check the voltage across the battery terminal while the engine is running. It should be between 13.5v and 15, but no more. Rev the engine and check the voltage. If the voltage exceeds 15v, then your voltage regulator is proll bad. Usually you change the alternator, unless you know how to take one apart and change the voltage regulator.

 

Also ifyou have a sound system that cold cause it to happen. I had someone thought I was flahing my lights at them one time because I had it turned up a bit. I had my lights on low beam the whole time. But you should probably check your alternator either way. If you do have a system causing the problen you will need to get a stronger one and probably a better battery. If neither of those are the problem you probably have a short somewhere. I know someone who had a van that had a short and sometimes everything would work great and the lights would do that and the radio would come in and out. At first it had no effect on the engine but over time it would sometimes almost kill it. He took it to several mechanics and noone could find out what was wrong till oneday it just wouldn't start. We were in texas and had a mechanic there look at it and he found the problem. After he fixed the short never had that happen again. I'm not sure where the short on the van was though.

 

after a motor swap you might have a bad ground too...

other things are the alternator or the battery. Check the battery terminals and see if they are in good condition.

 

run a ground wire from your block to your chassis... or your battery to your chassis... whichever... if its a bad ground then problem solved... if not you'll have to check your alternator/battery. my buddys 323 did that before and we thought he needed an alternator but he only needed a belt... changed that and it worked fine ever since...

 

Thanks for all the help. it turns ot that the brush sets in my alternator were on thier way out. so i put in anothe ralt. and im all good.
Thanks alot.
Mike

 

[quote]ORIGINAL: 06Si

Also ifyou have a sound system that cold cause it to happen.
IF this is ur prob get a 1.0 or 1.5 farad capacitor! PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!

 

Yeah matt that would have solved the problem but that was a long time ago and I didn't care. That was the first system I wired and learned a lot from it and since then. If I ever get one that big again it will be done better though. What I have now is good enough for me for now.

 

i have the same engine swap but in a 99 civic and mine is doing the same thing, so im guessing it is the alternator. also my subs only work at idle and if the engine is off but if i rev the engine they turn off. im guessing the alternator is turning out too much voltage so i will replace that and see what that does .

 

You could check the voltage at the battery first and make sure the alternator is working incorrectly, or you could do guess and check.