Ok, I have two questions that I need to answer before I go to work tonight because I don't know if I'll make it back if I don't get this fixed.

1. Is my alternator on it's way out? I went to work last night and noticed the car was whining awefully loud from the engine compartment. The whine increases and decreases with engine speed. My car held average charge last night, but today when I'm coming home it's low. I got behind a school bus and when I slowed down the lights went dim, and it went into the red. Turn the lights off, and it jumps back up.

2. Do our engines have ground straps? Someone told me that's what I found when I found a braided, thin, flat wire bolted to the body on the passenger side, but I don't know where it leads, I can't find the other end of it. So if someone would like to clue me in on this, and problems it could cause, I'd greatly appreciate the help.

 

Definitely sounds like the alternator is going out. Double check that the sense line wire is connected to the alternator (connector on the back/bottom of the alternator). My 1995 has a ground strap on the driver's side that connects to body to the front of the driver's side head.

 

that ground strap bolts to the drivers side bolt on the icm/ coil bracket

 

What would it effect to have the ground strap disconnected? Because it's been like that since I bought the car.

 

The ground straps complete the circuit, allowing current to flow back to the battery. Your alternator uses its housing as the ground. The housing mounts to the accessory bracket that mounts to the motor. The ground strap allows the motor to electrically connect to the body thus getting current back to the battery. Although it's not a good idea to have a ground strap disconnected, your negative battery cable also picks up a ground on the block down by the starter.

Pooring grounding will cause all kinds of electrical issues.