charging system help

[beran24]

so my car quit on me hit the key and nothing, so i jump start it. seems like the battery is real low, wipers move very slowly, and lights dim. stop at a red light dies again, so i get a boost and drive home with out stopping or the car would die. i charge up another battery and put in it. everything seemed to work fine. later that night car dies again while driving. My ground cable connection was kinda loose so i put a new end on it. Still had the problem. I checked voltage with out car running i had about 11.8 then got the car running and only had like 12 something, so i assume the alternator is bad, i buy another one. put it in take the car for a drive come home shut it off. hit the key. nothing again. switch batterys again get it running test volts when running again and i'm still only getting a little over 13.

I cant figure it out. I read if there is a short you can check by putting a test light from the ground cable to the ground post and if there is a short the bulb will light. so i tried this and it did not light.

It seems to me like the alternator is charging but the full charge is not making it to the battery, any ideas?

[Pico]

I had similar symptoms with my car, except it was not starting.
Turned out to be a bad ignition switch.

[beran24]

I had similar symptoms with my car, except it was not starting.
Turned out to be a bad ignition switch.

weird some how my switch got messed up wouldnt turn, so i just recently changed it with a spare that i had like 2 weeks ago. but i also havent been driving this car since last winter.

[Oldblueaccord]

You really need to get a reading on the amps when your cars is running charging,.

A good fully charged battery is 12.7 at rest.

14 volts is closer to what you want running.

If you need to fix it quick, run a large gauge wire from that large post on your alt. to the battery + direct to bypass any problems.

Remember just jumping a car off is like filling your gas tank up for 30 secs. Not going to do a whole lot.

wp

[beran24]

You really need to get a reading on the amps when your cars is running charging,.

A good fully charged battery is 12.7 at rest.

14 volts is closer to what you want running.

If you need to fix it quick, run a large gauge wire from that large post on your alt. to the battery + direct to bypass any problems.

Remember just jumping a car off is like filling your gas tank up for 30 secs. Not going to do a whole lot.

wp

Isnt there only one post on the alt? so i can bypass everything and run a wire from that to the battery?

[Oldblueaccord]

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Pretty sure thats the fat daddy you want. Add on a large guage wire to the battery that way most of the amps will travel thru that wire. It will give you time to figure out whats up with your wiring or your charging system.

You want a wire that will carry 60 amps min.


wp

[beran24]

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Pretty sure thats the fat daddy you want. Add on a large guage wire to the battery that way most of the amps will travel thru that wire. It will give you time to figure out whats up with your wiring or your charging system.

You want a wire that will carry 60 amps min.


wp

thanks.

I didnt have a very big wire to try this, but i tried it with some wire i had, i assume that you leave the orignal wire hooked to the battery to power the starter and just on hook it off the alternator? thats what i did then i ran a wire from the alternator to my battery. started the car only 12.7 or something, then i un hooked the wire i ran and still only had 12.7 so it appears then alternator isnt putting out? i turn on headlights and heater fan then i can watch the voltage drop from the battery.

Tomorrow i'm gonna pick up some larger wire and give it a another shot. but i figured trying it with the small wire would give me some voltage? I'm just starting to think the alternator i bought is fu*ked.

But its weird with my old alternator before i changed it my battery light in the dash never came on, i put the new alternator in and yesterday it didnt come on, but today the light started coming on this stuff is confusing the crap out of me ha.

Maybe it could be something in my key swithch that i just swapped but i cant see how

[import racer]

Maybe your alt belt need to be tightened.But it could be your switch,I'd try to find another one to try.

[beran24]

Maybe your alt belt need to be tightened.But it could be your switch,I'd try to find another one to try.

alt belt is new and tight, i took the alt back off this afternoon, took it back to napa got it bench tested its only putting out 11 or 12 volts so the ordered me in another, to bad its coming from out west ugh wont be here til friday

[import racer]

Yeah i had a new one from can tire start draining the bat after a few days,had it checked and the diodes were bad.They had to get a replacement one.New stuff can go bad too.

[beran24]

Yeah i had a new one from can tire start draining the bat after a few days,had it checked and the diodes were bad.They had to get a replacement one.New stuff can go bad too.

yeah i know, well hopefully the new once comes in friday and its all good. or im gonna be pissed lol

[beran24]

so my alternator never came into napa today, so i got tird of waiting and used the 4 wire alt from an efi engine on my carb car. i just cut the plug off the efi harness put 3 wire connectors on it and shoved them into the 3 wire plug on my car, then i just taped up the 4th wire that is not used on the carb cars, put the alt in and its wokring good.