Evening,
Hope it's not frowned upon to ask for some technical advice in a first post but here we go!
Just got myself a 92 GS300, it's got a few electrical glitches that are making it a bit of a nightmare at the moment. The previous owner told me that it had had problems with taking a charge, it's had 2 new alternators (not under my ownership, one of which is receipted) and a new voltage regulator. It seems to drive fine when it has a full battery, it doesn't run out quickly it runs out quite slowly but the problem is worse at night I'm assuming because of the drain caused by the lights being on. I can drive it for a couple of hours during the day before it won't start again. It's also had things like grounds etc gone over by an auto electrician (apparantly) and they were ok although I may check those again.
Occasionaly when I start the car I get three warning lights, oil something or other, the battery warning light and one other on the right. They also pop up from time to time when driving and all three stay on when the car's on the way out. I can also make them come up by booting it pretty hard.
Now this morning I got the multimeter out, it was getting around 12.8v on idle and about 13.6v on a small rev. A friend of mine also bought a (huge archaeic!) battery tester round which confirmed the battery despite having been run down a few times recently wasn't knackered. I drove the car up the road to get some petrol, I pulled in and noticed what I though was steam coming from the bonnet, pop the bonnet and low and behold the alternator was smoking! Needless to say I shoved the car out the petrol station sharpish but that can't be good. It killed the battery, a friend bought down a spare and I drove it back to my house (2 mins) and the alternator was fine!! Argghhh!
Also, not quite as terminal as that, the door locks click all the time whilst driving but only over a certain speed (probably about 10mph I reckon).
Any body encountered similar problems and could offer any advice? It would be much appreciated!!
Thanks,
Rob.