The battery I have gets a crazy Amount of corrosion all over the negative terminal…even with white lithium grease, it gets covered…after inspecting, it looks like the negative terminal is almost about to come
out of the battery…so yeah, it’s time for a new battery…my guess is there’s gas being released and causing the build up of corrosion….could also be the exhaust gasket being bad on that side and the fumes causing it…anyway my alternator looks newish, and it’s got this small red cord which I have been told is the fuseable link…anyway it needs to be connected into an open solenoid or the battery terminal or the battery light comes on…however when I unplug this small cable, my rough idle smooths out and the lights don’t flicker…could the alternator and the battery both be bad even though it starts and drives fine without codes or lights on unless that link is unplugged?

 

Have you gone through and checked the grounds? Clean them up, make sure you have solid connections too. I use the ring terminal protectors from any auto parts store to help fight off corrosion, try them with the new battery.

 

Man I’ve gone through so many of those terminal protectors I stopped counting…all the grounds are fine…unfortunately I think I’m going to have to take this to someone that knows about diagnosing the charging system. I mean I can do the basics, but obviously something is off,
and before I order a new battery and alternator I want to be damn sure that’s the issue…from all my symptoms…flickering lights at idol and running rough until sped up…I’m almost positive this alternator has a bad diode…but all I have is a voltmeter and I don’t know how to test the system for specific things…
thanks for the reply though…

 

Get the battery load tested, you can also have the alternator tested at the local Irish Auto parts stores.

 

Had a battery that was corroding the terminal and I put a small bead of crazy glue around where the post came through the battery. Cleaned it real good first..

 

See that’s a good idea…thanks!