My 88' XT6 has these problems;

- battery shows good voltage with tester, but dash shows lower voltage, I cleaned all contacts.

- alternator gets really hot fast.

- belt squeals every time when starting, the belt tensioner is stripped, where can I get a new one?

- fan relays are all messed up, I have to put a fuse in the relay socket to jump the fan to run and pull the fuse out when I park.

- air vents will not switch.

- Tachometer sometimes is way off too high.

- cybrid steering is shitty at low rpm, could that be the brushes in the motor, or low current from the alternator, belt also squeals when taking slow tight turns sometimes.

 

any gurus with advice out there? I'm in the PNW anyone local?

Almost every system in that XT6 is electrically operated, so a bad alternator is going to give you fits, and cause system damage left unchecked.

Start by replacing or getting the alt rebuilt.

 

Read of a few owners breaking/stripping the drive belt tensioner due to not loosening the nut holding the tensioner pulley.

Replace the charge wire with a piece of 10 Gauge straight back to the battery w/a fusible link wire at the end right before the batt.

 

The charge wires in these old cars get corroded, hardened, and build resistance.  The associated volt drop on that wire causes the Alt to work overtime trying to bring up the battery voltage when it's really the wire worn.

thanks,

I had suspicions it was a bad ground, bad wire makes sense, the resistance and the battery showing higher charge on it's own.

could I use a jumper cable to try it and see if it changes before I re-wire?

I'm spoob out of cash, and looking to fix this cheap, before causing damage.

WTF? I wrote s**t and the USMB site auto corrected it to "spoob" sweet!

i cleaned all the contacts and put my battery on a charger for a couple of days. then tightened the belt and put in the charged battery. belt still squeals sometimes under load when cold. yeah, the resistance in the wires is probably the main issue, and if i don't fix it i'll keep burning out alternators. but for now it runs good, it's parked for the winter or until i get money, or first snowfall!

also removed the muffler, great fun!

my wife just got a 2014 Impreza, I love it! same sweet boxer feel, but the stereo sucks! that must be fixed, and can anyone recommend a good muffler, the stock sounds spoob.

So now no money for 2 cars on the road XT-6 parked for now.