just a quick question

i just got my car back from the body shop, (had someone hit my front end - not that bad, all body work) - but now i have a couple of problems, when i start the car from a stop, and if i let the rpms drop a little low (not stupidly low), the volt meter will drop really low, the lights will dim, but then it will go back up...
under normal driing all is well, the charging system works fine, etc... except for when i use the brakes, the headlights flicker, and the dash lights do the same (the volt meter drops a very little bit)

what would u say the problem is? bad grounds, need new alternator, need new battery??

the alternator was replaced last year, and i have no stereo in my car right now...

-edit: oh yeah, also on this past sunday, early in the morning, for my 2 minute drive to work, my abs inop light came on, and my emergency brake light stayed on (the e-brake was down).... yet later that day, after work, all was fine again in that regards

thanks for any help

 

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219558

I've had this trouble for about a year. No signs of a fix.

 

yeah, i saw that thread, thought maybe it might be something different??? hopefully we can both be helped

 

My Z28 started doing the exact same thing... And it kept doing it all the way until the day I sold it.

Come to think of it... It started after I got the car back from the body shop, after being hit by an armored truck. I never put two and two together... I thought it was because they ran my battery dead at the body shop (which they did). And from that point on it was such a clusterf*** that nobody could diagnose, that I totally forgot that it could have been because of the accident.

 

Volts dropping at low rpm is normal. I have upgraded battery cables on my 95 and it still does it. Just a function of alternator output vs pulley rpm. Nothing to worry about.

 

His doesn't sound too bad... But mine would drop to 9 volts or so.

 

Same things happening to me. It's happened since I've bought the car. Really I don't think it's normal. It doesn't happen in any other vehicles I've ever been in.

When you hit the breaks, the headlights actually dim. For about 1/4 of a second. Sometimes when I'm idling at a red light, the voltmeter dropping down. It will never stay down, just dip down there, then back up.

It also causes the instrument cluster to flicker.

Now, I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but in my car, I can hear the fuel pump 'make a different sound' when the volt display flickers. As in, it'll be making a constant tone, but when the gauge flickers, it sounds as if it slows down a bit. Anyone changed their fuel pump?