1992 Pontiac Grand Am
4 cyl. 2.3 liter DOHC "D" type engine

Hey guys,

Yesterday as I was driving to work, my car started doing some weird things. First, my turning signal would blink real slow and even freeze sometimes when I used it. Next, the radio was flickering and the speedometer was bouncing all over the place. These sounded like sure signs of my battery dying. As I pulled up to a red light, the car just completely died and wouldn't start again. I had to push it off the road and a good samaritan stopped to give the battery a jump start. After the engine fired up, I had to constantly give it some gas to keep it going. As soon as I let it go down to idle speed, it would stahl out. In any event, I have to fix it now and I wondering if it's just my alternator that's the problem or something more complicated.

 

raymo8,
Test the battery and alternator. If the battery is okay, it does appear to be an alternator problem. My 98 Z71 did about the same thing a couple months ago - alternator!.

fred

 

If your battery and alternator are working sounds like you might have a computer problem or short.

 

Sounds like the alternator is wasted. Do an output test as I have in my "The Basics" below.