can i get a list of all the ground placements?

 

I am not too sure where they all are but check the one that is on the bolt that holds the coil on. Mine was corroded and was causing some problems. Also you can just ground the car out temporarily hook a strap from a good ground source on the frame, and go for a ride see if it solves the problem. If you have a friend with a similar car borrow their coil, and ICM bolt them to yours and try it out. If none of those work then I would say get it scanned (if you already havent) see if anything comes up, and then try the opti again. I am almpost 99% sure its your opti. All the symptoms were exact to the "T" when mine went. Check those things i mentioned especially making another temporary ground to see if it corrects the problem. ICM and coil are another possibillity. Before my opti went out it took my ICM once and coil out at two separate occasions Its probably why i travel with an extra coil. Once the opti crapped, I fixed it and all my electrical problems were solved.

 

This is very interesting.. first of all let me start by saying that if the Alternator is providing steady voltage below 15 volts... where does this 16.3 voltage is coming from?

Two possible answers... one is that it may be coming from some ignition voltage either jumping to or creating a magnetic transfer to the positive power suply. The problem with this answer is that anything conected to the power feeds would be affected but you are not measuring the voltage swings at the battery/alternator conection....

The second possible answer is that there is an intermitent voltage drop (possible corroded conection on either ground strap or rusted fuse contacts) that create what I call a low frequency alternating voltage swing.. in other words... the voltage intermitently drops and comes back up... swinging down and up and therefore creating an alternating voltage of a couple of volts... depending on how severe the problem is... This problem in my experience has caused some old test meters to display the wrong voltage values while using the direct voltage settings... I never took to time to analyze it why but I imagined the old voltmeters had some type of full Bridge rectifier set up at the input side and it was reading the voltage drop an adding it as aditional voltage being measured at the test conections... Its just a thought. I still wonder if the new digital voltmeters would experience the same problem.

Point being is... the 16.3 voltage you are measuring, assuming the reading is accurate, has to be generated from somewhere. weather is magnetically induced from the ignition High voltage side to the power feeds or the alternators voltage regulator is randomly fluctuating the voltage when you are not looking...... Yeah it sounds funny but I have seen some weird stuff before...

if anyone has any other ideas that would explain how the voltage is swinging up higher than the actual voltage feed from the alternator I would defenetely be interested in listening.


Marvin

 

Ok here is another thought.... does the PCM control the alternators voltage regulator output via that wire conection that plugs right behind the alternator itself? I am not talking about the positive power output but the one that activates the alternator? Sorry I dont know the correct names of everything. I was just thinking... does this PCM hook up works like a switch ? on and off as the only possible status or does it actually act as a regulated voltage feedback?

There is a slight possibility that if this set up uses the PCM not only to activate the Alternators output but to control how much voltage is coming out.... if there is a bad conection somewhere it may send intermittent direct voltage into the voltage regulator and compounding the problem...

Its only a thought... anyone know how this chargin system actually works?? if it only activates the Alternator as an on and off switch.. then disregard this post...

Marvin