Idle speed does not increase worth AC on, charge drops below 12 volts

Asked by E Oct 28, 2017 at 02:57 PM about the 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis 4 Dr LS Sedan

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

When my 1999 grand marquis ls is
idling volts are around 13v. I turn on AC
and idle rpms don't increase and volts
drop below 12v. I've already replaced
alternator with what pepboys said it
called for also changed ACV with no
change. Can any help? This is driving
me nuts.

5 Answers

That had been everyone's first thought too, I've gone through six alternators from two suppliers. I've had to run an alternate let on power supply to the alternator just to get the volts to stabilize. The speedo will show speeds bouncing around from 0-60 and all speeds in between. And the volts bounce from a total of 12.5 to 13.7 (13.4 most steady) with no load to 11.4 to 13.0 (12.2 most steady at idle with lights on and 11.8 with lights and AC on) otherwise the car ruins real good.the only other real annoyance is the truck ajar warming light keeps tripping though the trunk is closed.

5,405

This is strange. Is the battery old? It could be internaly shorted. Put on a charger overnight, and see if it drops below 3 amps.

It's 3 years into a 5 year battery. I've had it tested 3 different times (2 autozone 1 at regular mechanic) each time it comes up"good" but I've thought of that too.

5,405

Try that battery test, should be down to 1 1/2 amps after overnight. If that's not it, what system would be putting a large load on the system? ABS? Air bags? I guess you could try disconnecting some things to see if the voltage rises.

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