Alternator problems

[tjbiker031]

OK well i walked out to my car to go to work yesterday night and it was dead. So i took the battery to get charged and tested, which came out OK. Then i put my Fluke to check the charging system and it gave me a 12.86 turned off and a 13.81 running. So a checked the connections and tested it again and it gave me a 12.87 turned off and a 14.06 running. But when i tested the system the second time running it gave me a 13.15 at first and i gave it a couple rev's and it jumped and stayed at 14.06. I did notice a bit of oil on my alternator from an unknown leak on that side of my GST. Could the oil on the alternator be causing the problem or something else. I don't really want to be throwing money at something that doesn't need to be fixed.

 

[Dsmj89]

Sounds like your alternator is good.
You could test this by disconnecting the negative battery terminal with the car running , if it stays on it is good, if it turns off then the alternator is bad.
I would agree on the oil causing a little problem for the alternator, i would get this fixed asap as with time it will crap out your alt.

 

[luv2rallye]

Don't pull the battery cable off while running You risk a high voltage spike that can wipe out electronics (eg. ECU): http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/pro...-battery-alternator-question.html#post1763645.

Battery and alt test: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/pro...reeway-electrical-problems.html#post151165661.

Alts die when power steering leaks on them.

 

[tjbiker031]

Yeah i wasn't going to do that....didn't sound like a smart way of testing things.

I haven't noticed power steering fluid leaking at all, but there is oil on the drivers side of the block, and i did notice my cam seals are leaking...but i doubt it would leak enough to put that much oil out. I do go out every so often and spray brake cleaner cleaning the oil trying to find the leak, but i never spray electrical components.

 

[InfiniteGSX]

Just because a battery checks out good doesn't mean it is. Autozones tester is a piece of shit. I had a red top that would lose a volt a day that I wasn't using it. I charged it and brought it to them to replace. Cause I know it needs to be charged to be tested. It came out good. Lady argued with me, so I went to a different autozone. Got the battery replaced and haven't had a problem since. Sounds like your alternator is working.

 

[tjbiker031]

It seems to be working fine now. i went out and tested it after it sat over night. It's still at 12.85 turned off and 14.16 running. i think it was just a bad connection on the battery. I'm probably going to install a voltometer so i can watch it.