Electrical problems

[blye]

Hi, I have a 99 ssei with some electrical problems, mostly interior.

2 years ago my battery died and I replaced it with a Deka Intimidator AGM. Everything was working good except the radio kept losing its time.
Now the interior lights (not dash, just all reading lights and interior door lights) are flickering very dimly. Turning on the lights with any of the switches including turning the headlight knob will not turn on the lights - they just dimly flicker.
Also noticed that the horn sometimes does not sound when I lock my car with the remote - sometimes it does. Radio still loses time every day.

I checked the voltages and got the readings as follows:

After a day of being parked: battery was 12.4
Started just fine. ran it for 10 minutes.
with engine running: voltage was 14.4 with nothing on, 13.6 with headlights, defroster, ac on.
revving engine to about 2500 rpm did not cause any real change in these voltages.
measured voltage drop between neg terminal and car frame = 0.0, between neg and alternator casing = 0.01
between pos and alternator pos terminal = 0.02
turned off car: battery was 12.6

so, with all this info, are the battery and alternator ok? Car has original (13 year old) alternator.

Rebuilt alternator = $140 from local alternator shop, $265 from parts store. New = $300 from parts store, $500 from dealer.
In canada there is no autozone or pep boys for free testing, and Canadian Tire wants $50 for testing. Small alternator and parts shops just say replace alternator.

What to do about the electrical problems? bad ground somewhere?

[Pontiac1]

It sounds like a ground buss issue,look here to see where to lookviewtopic.php?f=19&t=30286
I have heard the headlight switch can also be a problem,mine was,but I have a 93 and some have said the newer switches like yours are better.I would check the ground busses on both sides of the car first,then look at the switch.

[Bing]

[blye]

It sounds like a ground buss issue,look here to see where to lookviewtopic.php?f=19&t=30286
I have heard the headlight switch can also be a problem,mine was,but I have a 93 and some have said the newer switches like yours are better.I would check the ground busses on both sides of the car first,then look at the switch.

I should update the status of this issue..

The ground bus on both sides were a little bit dirty. The grounding connections under the hood on each side of the car had lots of corrosion.
Cleaned them all off and reconnected everything. That seems to do the trick!

Now my radio clock seems to be a bit fast by a few minutes a day. go figure.

Thanks