Weird bug help needed

[19984V]

Driving the track yesterday, all the lights in my car went dim, as well as my headlights. My tach went to 0 and my ABS light came on. No codes were thrown or anything like that and it would still drive. However when the abs was on it felt like it had a miss.

When i gave it some throttle the lights would all go bright again, as well as the tach would work.

It was not overheating, my battery gauge was on the "o" of normal, i had oil pressure.

Anyways i just drove like that to get to the track because i was 2 miles away. On my way home everything worked fine.

It scared the hell out of me, anyone have any idea what happened???

 

[SNAKEYE]

Intermittent voltage regulator.
It's mounted on the rear of the alternator. Try tapping on it with the butt end of a screwdriver. If the lights go bright and dim you found the problem.
Finding a voltage regulator not attached to a new alternator will be your next problem.

 

[19984V]

Everything went back to normal, will the lights still get bright and dim if i tap it?

Is the a common problem and will it cause any harm to my car? Or just an annoyance??

Thanks so much for the feed back i had no clue what it was.

 

[SNAKEYE]

Another possibilty is that the brushes on the sliprings of the alternator may be worn down to the point where they float off of the rings causing loss of alternator output.

Any intermittant problem may become permanent, and at the worse time, of course.
If you want to drive around hoping that it stays working that's your choice.

Yes, the lights would go bright and dim as you tap. Tapping the regulator could define the problem right in your garage rather than somewhere out on a dark back road in the wee hours of the morning.

 

[19984V]

I will state that its a brand new alternator. ><
Im still not 100% sure on where to start on fixing it. Do i just need a new, better, alternator? or just part of one?

 

[SNAKEYE]

I will state that its a brand new alternator. ><
Im still not 100% sure on where to start on fixing it. Do i just need a new, better, alternator? or just part of one?

Even a new generator (a.k.a. the alternator/voltage regulator assembly) can have problems.
Check all of the wire connections to the generator to assure nothing is amiss with them.
And you can still perform the screwdriver handle tapping on the voltage regulator (the black box on the rear of the generator). If the lights come up and go down as you tap you may have to exercise the warranty on the brand new unit.