Aaron's alternator has been removed from the circuit

[Michael Menard <mike5635@xxxxxxxxx>]

Aaron Young asked about the voltage drop in his '87
325, having sent off his instrument cluster...

Having just replaced the brushes on my alternator of
my 1990 535i, I can enlighten you on this, I think.

I just looked for my manual, can't find it, so this is
from memory.  On the pre-1989 cars, the idiot light in
the dash lacks a critical resistor that keeps the
alternator charging the battery if the light fails. 
Given that you sent your instrument panel out, you 
now have no alternator in the circuit.  Hence, your
lights are dim.

If you don't travel too far (I went about 100 miles
not realizing that my alternator was shot), you can
charge the battery overnight with a Battery Tender,
then drive it during the day as a total loss system.

Just so everyone knows, the alternator brush swap was
really easy to do!  The only thing that hurt was the
$250 to tow the car from downtown Chicago to Gurnee
(about 55 miles)...OUCH!

Michael Menard
Chicago
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