For the past couple of months, I've had the problem of the alt light on very dim on occasion. I replaced the voltage regulator and that helped until 4 days ago and the dim light returned. Since I had a lifetime warranty on the alternator I'd had replaced back in 1999, I returned it to Autozone and found that both the alt light AND the oil pressure light next to it are on, but a little brighter that the alt light was before. The weird thing of all this is that when I turn the key off, both the alt & oil light stay on full bright. I checked my ground to the alt and both of the other wires. I checked the voltage at the battery at idle and it was right at 12 volts on a 6 month old battery. Right now, not knowing if I'm draining the battery with the alt/oil lights on with the key out, I've just disconnected the neg battery cable until I get some suggestions from someone here as to where to start looking. Is there any way to bypass the alt wiring without replacing the harness if that's the culprit?
I'm off this weekend so I have the time to dive into it.
Thanks for any suggestions and sorry for the long post.
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'86 sedan with 409,000 miles on the original engine and automatic transmission