Charging System Problem

[Karma]

So I replaced my alternator and battery 3 weeks ago. The voltage was leveling out around 13.5V, which isn't great but was doing the trick. The car was parked for 2 week's while the turbo and suspension were being installed. After that was all said and done I drove the car for a total of 4 days untill it died. First day car was at about 13.8V. Second day it was around 11.0-12.5V Third day was at about 11V and the fourth it drained down to 6 as I hurried to get it back to my house. Needless to say it was completly dead. Took it to Vince's auto in town and they told me the alt. was running perfect making about 45 amps if I remeber correctly, and the car was doing good. They idle'd it for an hour and "the car stayed between 13.8-14.2V the entire time" They told me there was nothing wrong with it. When I go to drive it home the car was at 11V when I first got in. It never went above 11.2V. I got home and changed the belt. Cleaned all the connections on the alternator. Still nothing.

Can anyone please help. (BTW all the numbers I was looking at came from my logger, im not sure what the shop was using for data)

 

[1990talon]

Is your battery still going dead or did you just see the low voltage?

 

[grnchevyz]

Sounds to me like you have a loose or bad ground/power cable to the battery.

Check your power cable that goes to the alternator. If you can, remove it and run it straight to the battery. Then check the ground wires from the battery and make sure they are all clean and tight.

You could have a good alternator and excellent battery but if the conncetions between both are bad then they are not working together.

Hope this helps out.

 

[luv2rallye]

Have your battery tested with a load on it after charging it (no load voltage on a battery is meaningless). There are some bad "new" batteries out there. Another possibility is you have a short or battery drain: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1496998#post1496998

 

[Karma]

Also I found a short in the system. (test light to the negative batt. post to the dis connected ground vcables lit up) Had an unknown wire pushed in with the headunit fuse. Still will not charge though. Ill go check the grounds. Negative batt. terminal has 2 wires coming from it. One to the firewall, where does the other go? Starter and alt?

 

[grnchevyz]

Also I found a short in the system. (test light to the negative batt. post to the dis connected ground vcables lit up) Had an unknown wire pushed in with the headunit fuse. Still will not charge though. Ill go check the grounds. Negative batt. terminal has 2 wires coming from it. One to the firewall, where does the other go? Starter and alt?

The other should be going to the block.

If you had a power wire shorting on your frame (hence why you would see the test light light up when touching BATT NEG to unconnected ground cable) you would be blowing fuses and would have much bigger problems and possibly a blown ECU.

Happy troubleshooting

 

[Karma]

Found that the random wire goes to the aftermarket sunroof which was installed prior to me buying the car. It has an inline fuse with it. I also found out that it is the alternator its self causing the problems. found a how to which has a seris of tests that rule out certian parts of the charging system.

One more thing. Does anyone with a greddy full auto turbo timer know what it means when. The number 1 appears then it shows 7 And a backwards C. I don't understand how something could go wrong with the turbo timer. Its cliped into the ignition harness. And I was touching nothing near it.

 

[SkURTnDSM92T]

Karma I was having chargin problems as well. If you tested your alternator and it is fine (hold the right amps and does not have any blown diodes) then re-wire all of the wires that go to the B+terminal. A lot of times the wires just get to dirty or crimped and they do not hold a good connection. Also make sure your battery terminals are on there well. Heck just buy new ones they are a few bucks..

 

[grnchevyz]

What you're seeing on your turbo timers is LAP mode. JUst press P+S+T until your back to countdown mode or wherever you want to be.

Nothing to worry about just a setting