Have a 91 Loyale sedan-fwd, 1.8L 122k miles

I have a few things wrong. Maybe can get some help?

1) Passenger side auto seat belt quit working? Where is the motor for this located? In the door? Or could it be a fuse? It just stopped working.

2) How do I get trouble codes for this model?

3) Here is the biggest issue that I am dealing with right now (there are more-deal with others later) (LONG…) At first I was dealing with the battery over charging up to 18V and sometimes under charging as low as 9V. Thought that the alternator went crazy, replaced it. It did not stop. As I am driving down the road when it would register over or under charge I would put in neutral and rev the engine and it would stabilize back to 13V. Be fine for awhile and it would do again…even to the point where it blew out a headlight when it would hit 18V. Then It was suggested that it could be the starter… I did not immediately replace. I cleaned the connections and it actually ran good with no problems and then eventually over a month or 2 go back to doing the over/under charge. Again clean even removed the starter and reconnect and be fine for awhile again. I finally put in a new starter last weekend and so far things seem to be working…however it now starts hard (like the battery is struggling to get started) and then idles rough, etc… Also I noticed more at night that when at a stop (in gear) that it starts to show under charge again, down to just under 12V. If I just take out of gear it goes back to 13V. Lights get dim and if running the heater I notice that it slows down. It was suggested that my timing could be off. Possible that while trying to take out the starter that I hit distributor hard enough to knock it out of timing?

 

Does anyone have any ideas how to deal with this? What to look for? How do I check timing if that could be an issue, etc…

Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

 

Ken

First....are you judging Volts simply by the dash meter. they go out all the time.

 

Next time, check the voltages with a meter.

 

There is NO WAY that timing will affect the charging.

 

2 Questions.

 

Does the "charge" light come on when you turn the key on/eng. off?

 

What is the condition of the connector at the ALT? is the heavy white wire hard and brittle? "T" plug corroded or frayed? Also, check the rear most fusible link in the link box.

I have not checked with a meter but yes I am reading off the dash ... When it does go up in Voltage my lights got real bright and the reverse is true when it would show under charged.

Connectors for alt all seem good. When I replaced it I cleaned all the connections.

The Charge light does not come on after start or turn off....

Try cleaning the battery terminals and the clamps on the battery cables really well.

 

My Loyale had a similar periodic hard-start problem. It would always start with a jump, but sometimes would act like the battery was really low, even when driving. One time, it even gave the same symptom after I pulled the battery and charged it out of the car. At that point, I knew it wasn't a battery problem, and I knew it wasn't a charging system problem.

 

I cleaned up the cables and terminals, and not only was the problem completely gone, but that's when my auto seatbelts started moving again.