Suzuki Sidekick issue

[Sniper82]

My mom has a 97 Suzuki Sidekick and is having a issue with the alternator/battery or something on it. At first when the car warmed up and stuff when she came to a stop and the car was idling the headlights would dim and sometimes the blower motor on the A/C would slow down. But once she gave it gas the blower went back to normal and the headlights brightened.

Anyway she tested the alternator(at Advanced) it tested bad and the battery tested good. Well she goes to have the alternator rebuilt and it tests fine on their machine but she still decides to have it rebuilt why is was out. That and the guy said he thought it would need it soon anyway. Well he puts it back in and today it did it again. Anyone have any ideas as to what the problem could be? Gonna put the multimeter to it tomorrow and see for myself.

But figured maybe someone on here might have a idea as to what it could be and some things I could check. BTW the low,medium,high switch on the blower motor burn up a couple months ago for no real reason. Could that be linked to the problem?

 

[Eli]

Hmm...

Well, if the alternator was rebuilt and tests fine, it very well could be wiring.

 

[Sniper82]

That crossed my mind. Def gonna look it over with a multimeter. Any other suggestions while I'm there? My mom called the guy who rebuilt it and told him it started doing it again. She said he told her the voltage regulator could be sticking or something like that.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Sniper82
That crossed my mind. Def gonna look it over with a multimeter. Any other suggestions while I'm there? My mom called the guy who rebuilt it and told him it started doing it again. She said he told her the voltage regulator could be sticking or something like that.

If it uses an external voltage regulator, that could very well be.

I'd be kinda surprised if a '97 did tho.

 

[Sniper82]

ok I put the multimeter to it.

Battery shows 12.7v(12.3v with blower,radio and headlights on) which seems fine to me
Car started nothing on at idle 13.9-14.1v
Car started with headlights,radio and A/C on it drops to 12.5v which I think is low but goes back up to 13.5v at a faster rpm(over 1500 rpm)
Turned the A/C off it jumps back up to 13.5v and higher at idle

Anyone know if thats normal on a 97 sidekick? I noticed with the condenser fan unhooked it jumps back up from 12.5v to 13.5v. I do know that has been changed and was taken out of a tracker. Also the plug on the condenser fan gets very hot to the touch as does the wires. Even though the condenser fan looks exactly the same and plugs up the same could it be possible its drawing more power than the one that came out of it? Could it be the blower? Any suggestions on what to try?