Hey everyone, proud owner of a 96 RS 5speed here, and have been lurking for a little bit but now i have some issues that are beyond me at the moment and i need some help.

This post is going to be long winded, and filled with alot of useful, and possibly not so useful info, but at this point i don't know what is relevant, so bare with me.

I have been having a charging system issue ever since i bought the car. It will drive fine, no issues for weeks, and sometimes even a month at a time. Then it will also trip the battery light every time you start the car and go past 2.5KRPMS.

About two months ago i was about 200 miles from home and the car began registering it was overheating, bogging, loosing power electrically, and anytime i pushed the brakes it would nearly shut down completely. Luckily i was driving home behind my boss, so we pulled off and did some trouble shooting and i found that my intake ground wire had corroded so badly that it had separated from the intake. Also worthy to note that my battery was bubbling from the maintinance caps, so its fair to assume it was being overcharged big time.

I had some 8G amp wire in my car because i always seem to carry some for some reason. So i fashioned a quicky ground wire and this solved all of those problems and car ran beautifully all the way home.

A week and a half later i was out of town again and the wife was driving the car. About 7PM i get this call saying that she was taking off from a stop light, and suddenly the lights got bright, then dimmed to normal and she now has no lights and the wipers were going by themselves. So i tell her to park it and I'll check it when i get home.

I get home, start it up and everything but the headlights is normal. Lowbeams a no go, highbeams work just fine.

Run to walmart to get new bulbs and crack open the housings and discover both bulbs are burnt out, and the driver side one had literally exploded. Replaced them and everything ran fine for a week or so. Then about 9PM one rainy night my battery light turns on and my lights start dimming.

I run home and park her, next day remove alt and get it bench tested. Tests bad, so i replace it and all is good again.

Fast forward to tonight, the wife is driving home from school and i get another call. Lights gone like before, wipers going by themselves and getting faster with engine rpms (this part is questionable because it didn't do it once i got to it) but this time indeed the wipers were running with the switch in the off position and i had no low beam headlights. High beams still function perfectly. Also worthy to note that the wiper switch still functioned to control the speed of the wipers, just wouldn't shut them off. I checked the fuse and there was a 30A fuse in place of the 20A that is supposed to be there. So i pulled the fuse out.

So i break out my meter and start poking around. Battery is charging at 14.5 volts, with occasional spikes to 15. Turned off battery sits at 14.2 volts.

I checked bulbs as best i can when its dark out with little light, and they appeared good but i can't say for sure. Visually inspected the fuses and they appeared fine (could only find a high beam fuse, anyone know if there is a lowbeam fuse?)

Relay functions fine, BUT, I'm getting 14.3 volts on two pins of my relay socket in the fuse box. Normal?

Also once i shut the car off, my tail light relay began clicking very quickly, i pulled the relay, and plugged it back in and it stopped. And didn't do it again the entire half hour i've been out there checking what i can.

My intake ground is still holding fine, although it shows a little corrosion so I'm going to clean that up a little bit and see if that shows any improvement.

I have plans to do the external voltage regulator mod tomorrow or this weekend as i believe my internal one is bad, but at this point i'm not sure if it will fix all my issues.

I'm really hoping i don't end up needing to rip into the harness, because if i do i will probably just source a new one because i HATE messing with wiring harnesses.

So recap.

Headlights blown, wipers running by themselves, and alternator possibly overcharging.

Any and all info, and paths to check this will be explored.

This is my DD and i have a 300 mile trip to make next week so any and all help is welcome!

I have posted a couple times on dsmtuners as well and will probably cross post it there later to get some more hits. Any info is still welcome from anyone who has any ideas.

Have you opened up the ecu to see if anything on the board is fried? The ecu is what regulates the voltage. If voltage is going crazy, aside from tearing into the harness, that's a good thing to inspect first IMO.

I also had 2 fried ecu's, so i'm a little bias haha

I did open it a couple months ago, and nothing popped out at me. I'll probably open it up again tomorrow though just to double check.

Battery checked in good condition, bought external regulator and pigtail tonight. Will be wiring it up tomorrow along with checking all grounds and what not to make sure they are making good contact.

You have a ground issue. You make reference to the intake manifold ground, have you checked the body ground from the negative battery terminal? Have you checked and cleaned the battery terminals themselves (not the posts on the battery, the terminals)? Have you checked resistance from the chassis to the negative battery terminal?

Originally posted by DarkOne
You have a ground issue. You make reference to the intake manifold ground, have you checked the body ground from the negative battery terminal? Have you checked and cleaned the battery terminals themselves (not the posts on the battery, the terminals)? Have you checked resistance from the chassis to the negative battery terminal?

Battery terminals are new, and were cleaned three days ago with a wire terminal cleaner.

I'll be going over the other grounds today or tomorrow, family stuff kept me from it yesterday.

I think you are right about the regulator. Its sounds like classic overcharging symptons. You shouldn't be spiking to 15v anyway. When you are getting that bright light, that is probably a spike (they can spike up to 17-18 volts - or even more. I had one that was spiking up to 17.5. Burnt up quite a bit of stuff. Gauges etc.). Obviously, with putting a new/rebuilt in there, you are making sure that the voltage is strong, lol.

As you know, our regulators are in the ECU, therefore you could put 100 alternators in there and it wouldn't help the regulator problem. I suspect that once you do the regulator, the problems will calm down. That doesn't mean they will be fixed. It would just mean there would be no more additional problems. You would then have to chase wires and problems until you got them all (it took me about 4 months to find all the problems that happened to the car I got).

Electrical problems can be tough to decipher from a distance because of their finicky nature (sometimes its happening, sometimes its not. Sometimes that part is within spec, sometimes its not etc.). So do the regulator first and see how that helps.

I need some help on this asap if possible. I'm doing the external regulator mod right now, and i can't find my Auto Shutdown Relay.

I thought it was one of the two relays mounted between the brake and clutch master cylinders but the wiring colors dont match and i dont see any other relays anywhere.

Anyone have an idea on this?

96 RS 5speed

*edit*

I ask because i'm trying to mount closer to the relay side so i have a good mounting point. If i can't get any info soon i'll have to wire right off the plug.

Thats them over there, all you need is an ignition source for the regulator to work properly and not drain your battery. Just use your meter and find out which one it is. Worst case senario tie into the black/white wire on the ecu( I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS) but it would get you by in a pinch.

Thanks for the info, i couldn't find the info quickly enough though and just went in to the alternator plug like off the write up.

I'll probably revise my wiring later and make it cleaner, but i need it up and running in about 20 minutes lol.

Ok, external regulator in. New problem.

I'm charging at 17.9V! At idle!

I confirmnd this with my meter, as well as autozones tester (they are about 3 blocks from me).

I had them warranty the regulator in hopes of a failure in the unit, and a no go. Still charging at 17.9V

Battery tested good at 13V even, and 606 CCA.

Voltage while cranking was 11.43V.

That's all the numbers i have at the moment.

I wired it up exactly as this writeup said, http://www.electromotive-inc.com/pdf_files/neon99.pdf

Any info is helpful! Trying to get her back on the road by this weekend.

Im on my phone so I didn't read the install attachment but if you got a chrysler regulator use these...
http://www.symtechlabs.com/support/docs/VregInstall.pdf

I've used these on 3the separate cars and works like a champ each time.

Exact same diagram i went off of.

So how are your grounds. What does the alt charge at when its unplugged?

When the regulator is unplugged?

Grounds have all checked out ok so far.

Yes the regulator and alt unplugged. What is your measurements to know the grounds are good?

I haven't bothered to check the alternator unplugged because i didn't think i would get a reading since it wouldn't have a signal to charge. I'll check that here in a few.

Grounds i haven't taken any measurements, just visually inspected and cleaned the mounting points. I've never really used my meter for more then testing voltage, so am kind of lost on testing resistance, i'll probably look it up here in a few though.


Alt doesn't charge with regulator unplugged. Battery ground resistance is .25

*edit*

Didn't see it until this morning, but the cursing was a little uncalled for man. I appreciate the help you've given so far, and welcome any more, but lets all try and be nice huh?

Lol, that's my sig man, not something I directed toward you...lol

Whoops lol. Shows what two hours of sleep and a monster for breakfast does for ya I guess.

Ok, so i took the regulator off to clean some paint off the firewall hoping a better ground with it would help my problems, and i found something nasty.

I ran the regulator today to test some ground cleaning and what not i did, and this is aparently the results.

The old one had bubbling in the same spot but i figured it was just a deformity in the goo, and nothing to worry about.

If anyone has any ideas to toss out, feel free!

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=131877&d=1325278298

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=131878&d=1325278298

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=131879&d=1325278298

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=131880&d=1325278298

That regulator is shot. Double check all your wiring, take some photos of it

Wiring is still good, soldered and heat shrinked and done exactly as the diagram shows. That was the first thing i checked, i'm gonna switch out the regulator but i dont want to burn up another one and have them deny my warranty.

I did discover that my alternator bolt that mounts it to the motor isn't all the way tight, aparently some threads are rolled over and i never noticed it when installing, just went with feeling since it was tight.

The alternator itself doesn't wiggle or anything, but could this be causing any issues?

The tensioner bolt and everything is tight as it should be.

Well i've just decided to get a whole new engine bay and underdash harness with ECU, i'm at the point where i either have to fix it or sell it, and everything i've tried so far hasn't improved the situation much, so at this point the only thing i think left to do is just replace it all and start from scratch.

Hopefully replacing the harnesses and ECU will remedy the situation. I'm going to the junkyard tomorrow to scrounge one up. i'll be removing all the wiring loom and inspecting all the wiring, then taping and looming it back up.

Does anyone know off hand if the Avenger engine bay harness is the same as the eclipse? They always have avengers here, but tend to rarely have eclipses or talons.

Also, my ECU plug is the two plug style, can i get a harness thats one plug or do i need to stay with the same style even if im getting the corresponding ECU?

New harness and ECU seems to have fixed the issue, got lucky enough to find a 96 NT in the yard, same plug style ECU and all.

Driven about 200 miles now with no issues, was tested at three seperate places and shown to charge at 14.8V under load, and 14.43 at idle with no load.

Eventually would like to go with the external regulator, but for now i'll just leave it as is since it's working.

yeah i had a similar issue with that stupid regulator.. then tried a different style external setup . they all seem to do the same thing and full field my alternator. since that regulator is being fed off of battery voltage (i know isnt it obvious? lol) when it full fields to 17v + it burns the regulator up. i sent mine to farmco.. it was 74$ to have it fully (and professionally) converted to a one wire setup. had no issues with it after that. im not sure why but i swear those things just dont work on my car. i go over and over and over the wiring its always spot on to the diagram it just never works lol

Originally posted by itsaslow95
yeah i had a similar issue with that stupid regulator.. then tried a different style external setup . they all seem to do the same thing and full field my alternator. since that regulator is being fed off of battery voltage (i know isnt it obvious? lol) when it full fields to 17v + it burns the regulator up. i sent mine to farmco.. it was 74$ to have it fully (and professionally) converted to a one wire setup. had no issues with it after that. im not sure why but i swear those things just dont work on my car. i go over and over and over the wiring its always spot on to the diagram it just never works lol

I've been wondering if it was possible to switch to a one wire setup somehow. Only problem i would have with that is then if it went out i'd have to wait on a new one, and on a DD thats hard to do. Do they warranty there work? And what changes were needed to the vehicle wiring to make it work?

Btw an update, over 2000 miles and no battery light.

Forgot to add on my last post, i traced the problem down to my wire harness for sure before i replaced it. Anytime i wiggled the harness that runs between the intake and valve cover, the lights would brighten, dim, then the battery light would come on. And it would do it every single time i wiggled it.

I haven't taken the old harness apart yet to track it down cause i've been busy at work, but i plan to do so soon to see where the trouble was.

I don't currently have it anymore. When the oil pump went It was just sitting in the garage and I had a friend whos wiring melted. So I sold him that and he gave me his alternator. I will be sending it out once progress starts happening. Last one only took a day to do and yes it had a 1yr warranty.