charging system not working

[fasteddie]

Ive been having problems with my car the battery dies. while driving the the climate controlloses power(freaks out) on and off and the anti-lock light comes on and all lights get dim. I went to store bought a new batt., and it lasted 1 day and problems started all over again. i went back to advanced auto and they said the system wasnt charging and the alt was bad (my Guess to) well $179 later and 35 min under hood and I have the same problem. looking for advice on what to look for and where and what to trace. The car does run after I recharge the battery, but after a while with the heater blower and lights on it will start to act up and then the volts at battery keep droping, but the car never stalls

Thanks for your posts
Ed

 

[Rob94]

Have the alternator bench tested and check for any loose connections at alternator.

 

[Bizzy]

I was having a problem with the battery light comming on randomlyu in my car. Never to the point that I was losing power, but it was enough to **** me off everytime it happened.

Someone suggested to me to clean every contact I could fine on the car. The battery terminals, the post on the top of the alt. and the misc. grounds I could find. Well when a nice dry sunny day came around, I went outside with my dremel with the wire wheel, and some sockets. After I cleaned the light layer of corrosion off everything I could find, I sprayed a little battery terminal protector on the terminals, and that post on the top of the alt. I havn't had any charging system problems since. the nice part about cleaning all the wires is that it usually is free or just the cost of a wire brush.

BTW when my Battery light would come on my voltage in the car would drop to about 12.1-12.4 I think. Wierd thing was that it only happend to me when I would go more than 1/3 throttle. Good luck.

 

[fasteddie]

Thanks for the advice , I havent had the alt. bench tested but its less than 2 hrs old i would like to think its not that also the connections are in good shape on bat and alt. does anyone know what the amps should be at the alt at an idle , and which post to check it at ???

 

[fasteddie]

Well I fixed the problem with the charging system. I noticed that the battery light was not coming on when you first turn on the ignition. So I checked the 3 prong plug on the top of the alt there is a geen wire which sends 12 volts to the alt to let it know the car is running. I had no power at this connection on top of alt. In turn the alt was not charging because there wasnt 12 volts to it. I bought a new clip $5 later and spliced it in and the charging system is working great and no more dead battery. Thank you for all the help, hope this info will help someone out in the future..

Dont crush um Restore them!!

Ed

 

[luigisho]

Well done Ed.