I have a 1999 mercury mountaineer. Today as I started my car, the amp guage shot up and the abs and battery lights came on. The car worked fine though and after drivng a couple of miles, the guage became normal but my 4 wheel drive selector light just kept blinking every so often. What could be the problem?

 

voltage regulator may be weak and allowing spikes. definitely a good idea to get that checked. it could cause way more headaches by over-volting other parts. Definitely get that checked. voltage regulator is much cheaper to replace than the engine computer.

 

That hits the point.


The guage (gauge?) indicates whether there is an above normal charge, or below. The alternator always charges at maximum, and the voltage regulator is suppose to supply 13.4 volt to charge the battery.


I had trouble with my electrical system (a ''99 as well), but my guage indicated normal. As it turned out, the ground cable was coroded. After that, everyting was normal for about 1 week. Then suddenly I lost power here and then, I had to turn the key a couple times before the starter engaged.


Turned out that the battery died in between, 1 cell was dead. It appears that after fixing the ground wire, once the system was working as supposed to, the battery couldn''t handle it anymore.


Greetings!

 

Thank you guyz for the reply. I finally got it troubleshooted. The bearing and the brush on the alternator had worn out. Got that fixed and everything is back to normal.