Questionmy 96 neon is charging at 16,9 voltes what do i do i am in africa and i impoerted it last year. the dealers here are not helping
AnswerHi Bling,
The charging voltage is controlled by a single dark green wire connected from a plug at the alternator that goes to pin 41 at the engine control module's 60-pin plug located on the left side of the engine compartment just above the wheel well, next to inner fender in the space between the shock tower and the front of the compartment. That wire, when grounded, turns on the field coils of the alternator and it puts out the high voltage that you are seeing. Normally via the control of the module it rapidly oscillates between ground and battery voltage in order to produce a resulting 14v output of the alternator. However, if that wire's insulation were compromised such that the wire inside was touching to metal anywhere along the pathway from the alternator to the module then the alternator would put out full voltage all the time. Or it is possible that the field wire to which it connects that is inside the alternator is shorted to the case of the alternator. Or it is possible that the module is faulty. I would suspect them in that order: shorted dark green wire, shorted internal wire, faulty module.
You can test it to find out which as follows:
Pull the two-wire plug that has that dark green wire and a dark green/orange striped wire. Those wires power the field coil of the alternator. You will need to carefully connect a jumper wire from the battery + post at the alternator (the post with a black/gray wire held by nut) to the pin that is FURTHER away from it at the socket from which you removed the 2-wire plug from the alternator. You have to be careful not to touch the jumper to a metal surface other than that specific pin or you will short it to ground and either blow a fuse or burn yourself. Then once you connect that jumper wire start the engine and see if the alternator charging warning light comes 'on'. If the light comes 'on', then the alternator itself is NOT the problem. If instead the light doesn't come 'on' then the output is still 16.9 volts and then there is an internal short inside the alternator. You might open the alternator and see if the short is obvious and if not then you need a rebuilt alternator.
If the light comes 'on' (which says that the alternator is not putting out any voltage which would be expected normally when the dark green wire is disconnected from it), then I would use an ohmmeter or continuity tester to see if the dark green wire is shorted to ground. Unplug the 60-pin plug at the module so the wire is now disconnected at both ends and then test it to see if it is shorted to ground. If it is then examine as much or the wire as you can access to look for the short and repair it if you find it. If you can't find the short then I would jump a replacement wire in place of the shorted dark green wire between the plug at the alternator and pin 41 at the module.
If the wire shows there to be no short then I would suspect that the module is faulty and is internally grounding that wire all the time. Normally it is supposed to oscillate rapidly between ground and 12v so as to cause the alternator to put out a lower steady voltage of around 14v.
I hope this is helpful to you.
By the way, just by chance, I am selling a '95 Neon wiring diagram/2.0L engine shop manual on eBay during the next 3 days as an auction item. So if you are familiar with eBay and have a means of paying for purchases there do look it up (item #250922869202) as it will possibly not be bid upon and you can get for $1.99. While it says that I would only ship it to US buyers I would be pleased to send it to you if you will pay the postage. It would cost $14.11 for postage according to the post office web site, it weighs 1 pound 8 ounces. You will be very much helped in the future to have these wiring diagrams, I believe.
Roland
