Riddle Me This....

[stephen newberg]

I agree with Paul. Even with a new battery the alternator output should be closer to 14v or higher when the car is first started.

pax, smn

 

[Eastcoast SHO]

im sure the alt. is going, but it was strong enough to run for 20 mins until i shut it down with the battery out of the car

 

[SHOZ123]

If the voltage is below 13.5v at 1500 rpm with the AC and headlights on it is needing replacing. Running the engine with the battery out is a good way to **** the alternator as the battery acts as a buffer on the load output.

If the battery reads 12.2V when the engine has been off for 4 hours then it should be good.

 

[Eastcoast SHO]

thanks for the info paul. everytime i check it i am by myself and didnt know exactly what needs to be done, but i will check it with the rpms at 1500 with a/c and headlights on. did not check it that way.

as for the battery even after it being on a battery charger, being fully charged the battery only read 7 after it was charged

 

[SHOZ123]

Well the alternator/battery thing can be a vicious circle. Bad alternators usually will cause the battery to die which makes the alternators bad. Trying to charge a dead battery with the alternator will **** the alternator.

 

[Eastcoast SHO]

Well the alternator/battery thing can be a vicious circle. Bad alternators usually will cause the battery to die which makes the alternators bad. Trying to charge a dead battery with the alternator will **** the alternator.

no i pulled the battery and fully charged it, well though i thought. then put it back in car to start it up

 

[SHOZ123]

So why is it reading 7v if it started the car?

Charge it up so it reads at least 14.5v with the charger on and then put it in the car. Turn on the lights with the engine off. Then read the voltage and see how fast it drops below 11.5V.

 

[Eastcoast SHO]

no i used a booster to start the car. but i went back to napa, and the new battery had a dead cell and they replaced it with a new one.

put it in and it started up just fine, but still jumps in idle so that didnt help. i also did the multimeter test with the a/c and headlights on and unfortunatly it only read 12.30 .

so on that note, kirk, let me know when you get a chance, want to see if you can pick my car up and finish the work that needs to be done to it(exaust leak, muffler removal, new alt., and whatever the idle problem is). im tired of being under the hood every weekend with no progress

 

[nomov8sho]

Did you take a close look at the wiring, especially the big ground from the megafuse block? The problems you describe with the humming through the speakers and the radio / other function buttons doing strange things are classic bad grounding symptoms. My wife's '97 and my old '96 both did things like this until I replaced power / battery wires. On my wife's car the entire charging system wire harness setup needed to be replaced, in my '96 it seemed to be just the small battery-to-fender ground. Also check your 2 engine-to-firewall ground straps. Hope this helps.

-Josh

 

[Eastcoast SHO]

Did you take a close look at the wiring, especially the big ground from the megafuse block? The problems you describe with the humming through the speakers and the radio / other function buttons doing strange things are classic bad grounding symptoms. My wife's '97 and my old '96 both did things like this until I replaced power / battery wires. On my wife's car the entire charging system wire harness setup needed to be replaced, in my '96 it seemed to be just the small battery-to-fender ground. Also check your 2 engine-to-firewall ground straps. Hope this helps.

-Josh

thanks, when i get some free time i will yet again get under the hood and check tha

 

[jmpSHO2nd]

The first thing you need to do is get that thing charging properly, then go from there.