Hello everyone,

I have been a new member to your boards for a few days now and have already found a ton of useful information. I own an '86 GT in mint condition that I bought back in March.

I was hoping that you could help me with a couple problems that I have been having...

1) My electrical system seems to be acting kind of funny. Whenever I use something I can watch the voltmeter drop. If push the power window button it drops. If I press the brakes it drops. When I use the blinkers it will move up and down with the motion of the blinkers. It was acting real funny for a bit last night. When my friend hit the window switch the voltmeter dropped, the headlights dimmed and than the RPM guage surged up to 4k. Just the guage not the actual RPM. It went away after a couple minutes. I hope the cold weather is not going to mess with it. Do you think this is the alternator or could it be something else? I put a new battery in not too long ago.

2) My car seems to buck really bad when I tap the gas peddle or have it pressed lightly. It is more pronounced at low speeds. It almost sounds like the engine is missing too but I am not sure. It makes for driving in traffic really annoying. I have brand new spark plug wires on there and I changed the coolant temp sensor which I saw might help. I also have a brand new dogbone with poly bushings from the fiero store.

Thank you everyone for your help!

Patrick

[This message has been edited by PatrickB (edited 10-10-2000).]

First of all, welcome!

1) Bad battery.

2) Could be lots of things. Things to check: Ignition Module (although this usually gets worse when the engine heats up), MAP sensor, O2 Sensor, etc...

Welcome to the Forum.

Is the alternator old? Make sure your ground connections aren't bad. Just a couple ideas

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T-T-F-N, Tah Tah For Now!

RacingStripes@hotmail.com

The voltmeter on my GT does the same thing. Combination of an old alternator and dirty/bad grounds. My 84 did it, too, until I went through, found and cleaned as many grounds as I could. Still does it, just not as bad now. As for the Tach surging, that sounds like a bad tach filter.

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Mike -
Black 86.5 GT 5 Spd, 151,000 miles and counting!
Red 84 Sport Coupe - winter donut maker

Welcome! Your problem is most likely a bad alternator or ground. If it isn't charging the battery or putting out a lower voltage it will affect the ignition system. Start car and read voltage across battery should be around 14.4V. If it is between 12 and 13 volts, Disconnect the positive battery cable while the car is running. If car stops running or sputters alternator is bad. If car runs better measure voltage across the battery cables. If they are at 14.4V you have a defective cell in the battery causing an excessive load. My bet is the alternator. When mine went bad it was putting out 9.2V Which is just enough to keep battery charged for starting.

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Thanks for all of your great ideas!
I was actually thinking it was the alternator too. I went and got a new alternator and belt to go with it. Going to change it this weekend. I will change it this weekend and let everyone know how it works out.

Thanks again,
Pat

Hey there PatrickB,
Just wanted to take the time to welcome you aboard the very best Forum on the net! Best group of people you'll get to meet, knowlegable and a real fun bunch to boot! Enjoy your stay, you're gonna love it here, and you can take that to the bank! Good luck with your weekend project, hope it cures your little problem.

Cruisin' On,

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I saw in your post that the car had low miles and mint condition. was it stored in like a garage? If was not driven much then i would agree with all the above causes. The bucking or erractive idle could be alot of things. One of my cars I purchased from a guy in South Carolina who had not done much with it. It had just sat in the garage. I guess he did not know what he had.

Anyway
The car once I got it back to FL (I had driven it at night ) I noticed the darn tires were almost white around the edges from no Moisture and they had dried out. So I figured That probably going to happen to things in the engine area. Uhhh I was right.
New O ring - which is very popular
New Alternator
New Tires
New EGR tube. Its the original and had cracked from I guess no moisture
New 02 Sensor

And yes I had the bucking thing happen. Its was a bad EGR and tube. and 02 had to be replaced. All that said if the car was mint but stored it may not have stored the right way and you may want to check the things listed above. They dry out! You still probably have a great car but these are things I would check. I mean if messing with alternator might as well check everyhing else.

BTW......WELCOME TO THE FORUM and everything said above about it is true !!D: