electrical noise on 95 DI

[Disco_Stu]

I am doing some work on my brothers 95 DI (changing fluids) when I started to notice a faint electrical "whine" that was periodically coming from under the hood. I finally tracked it down to coming from inside the altenator. The noise seems to come on for 5 seconds and then go off for 5 seconds, but it is very faint, almost what you would hear a door chime do if the battery on a car was extremely low. The battery is at full charge, and everything seems to be ok.

A little history though, back in July his altenator went bad, so I bought and installed a rebuilt bosch unit from somewhere, that ended up dying within another month. I got it exchanged and installed the second one about a month ago, but since then no one has been driving the vehicle, so it hasn't got much use. The car is completely stock with no electrics added on, just has the factory keyless entry, and is an OBD-1 vehicle.

Anybody have any ideas what might be causing this noise? It is kind of concerning me, because of the recent altenator problems.



--Also speaking of the keyless entry it works but only if you put the remote on the glass of the vehicle, the range is completely non existant. We replaced the battery, but it didn't help, can anyone tell me where the keyless reciever is located, so I can see if anything is out of place there as well?

Thanks
-Stuart

 

[Disco_Stu]

Well if no one can answer the original question, can somebody please tell me where the keyless entry reciever is located?

 

[Disco Mike]

On the remote issue, usually it is the remote not the receicer that is causing the problem. Pull the battery out, replace it if it is old and make sure to clean all the contacts, usually corrision causes a weak signal to be sent.
On the alternator, I am wondering if you may have a short or draw that is causing that sound. Do the noise always come and go, al day long?
I would think you should go to an electrical shop and have them do a draw test against the system.
Good luck,
Mike J.

 

[Disco_Stu]

Well I replaced the battery in the remote already, and there wasn't corrosion that I saw.

As for the noise, it came and went for about the 40 minutes I was out there yesterday, and I even tried to hold the hood sensor switch down and arm the alarm, to see if it was some part of the security system running a check, but it still continued. And like I said it doesn't seem to be running the battery down or anything because the truck sat still for about a month without being driven, and started just fine.

I have some more work to do on the vehicle so I will see if it is still happening, but I think it is a constant issue. And just so I know what exactly does a draw test do?

-Stuart