ammeter antics!!!!

[adam]

Help?Please. My cars gone mental(2L Laser Auto '85).... Last week it wouldn't start 'cos the fanbelt had been slipping(my own lazy fault) so i tightened it and got my trusty jump leads out, but it wasn't up 4 it,it turned a few times but then went 100% dead(clickety click style).I thought it might have been the startermotor as it weren't jumping,so i took it off and noticed the solenoid to starter wire had practicly perished so i renewed it and tried again it still didn't work. So i tried a friends battery in the car and it started, so i bought myself a new battery and bingo it worked (but the startermoter made some rancid crunching noise)then it didn't start again so i thought it was the startermotor so i got a new(2nd hand)one,still no go.Then a friend in the know told me to charge the battery and if it started it would be the alternator so i did this and it was. So...(sorry 'bout the massiv' story,but its what happened) a new(2nd hand)alternator was on the cards. I got this and all was well,well almost, the new(2nd)starter motor was knackered,so i put the old one back on.Now it starts. A bit crunchy but it starts.But for some reason(i suspect an earth or something) the dashboard ammeter is going mental when u rev it up the gauge goes way off the scale and sometimes stays even when the ignition is off.For some strange reason when i tapped the under side of the dashboard(or opened the bonnet) the gauge dropped to a more reasonable position but bounced about abit, kind of to the rhythm of the engine.Sometimes its ok but other times it goes crazy....DOES ANYBODY UNDERSTAND MY RAMBLINGS OR BETTER YET DO U KNOW WHY IT WOULD BE DOING THIS???? COS I DON'T.many thanks..

[ciaranf]

dont know if its the same problem that I had a few weeks ago, but basicly I stopped my car one day got out came back and tried to start it as normal and to my suprise I heard a sound usually associated with a flat battery (clicking of relays without the starter spinning) thinking it was a flat battery I tried jumping the car but to no avail. On closer inspection I found that the fly wheel had several damaged teeth (this is caused by putting the car into park while moving) which the starters cog had got stuck in so I cranked the engine round to a position on the flywheel that was undamaged refitted the starter and it started first time. The sound you hear sometimes also points towards the same problem basically the starter cant get a grip on the flywheel properly. You will either have 2 replace the flywheel or do what I did put vasaline on the starters cog and carry a 13mm spanner around and get dirty any time it sticks (not pleasant).
Im converting my car to manual so I havent bothered to replace the fly wheel.

Regarding youre ammeter it basically reads how the alenator is charging if youre battery is flat it will read high and decrease to just above 1/2 if its charging normally. So if it fluctuates I would suspect either a faulty guage or altenator