After changing my alternator I still have a problem........apparently it is not charging my battery, or not charging it much. I have a car equipped with A/C but it's been ripped out, and I'm running the non A/C alternator, the Valucraft from autozone. I've checked the wiring many times. My battery holds a charge, but the car is not charging it. I ran the car, disconnected the negative terminal from the battery and it still kept on running, so the alternator must be working. Could all of this be caused by my voltage regulator? If so I'll just pop in the new one I bought a few days ago. I don't know, what do you guys think?
If the wiring is definitely correct, then the alternator is bad. I have had bad alternators fresh off the shelf before. It happens. Better get another one...
no there is no way I'm taking that alternator off and going through all of that trouble again without making sure it's bad. Is there any surefire way to see if the alternator is the problem? And as for "sure", I have absolutely no way of knowing if the alternator wiring is really correct. It seems like it would be......but without anybody being able to tell me how it's suppossed to be wired I just don't know for sure. But I am about 95% sure of it.
Wow that's totally different than mine, but thanks anyway elliot. Man I sure wish you guys had a whole chilton's manual scanned like that. Anyway I think I figured out that it really was the voltage regulator. I noticed before that when I was going down the road that my headlights would sometimes dim, then they'd brighten back up, then dim again. Well I noticed that as soon as I plugged up my new voltage regulator that my headlights didn't do that anymore (just sitting in the yard, not driving) then I plugged the old one back up, they started blinking, plugged the new one back up and they stopped. So I guess I've figured out what's wrong with my car.
damnit! guess I thought wrong again. I just took my car for a little drive down the street, it's hard to tell with the streetlights, but I can tell that after a minute the lights are getting dimmer. I also noticed that now when I give the engine a good bit of gas that the lights get brighter, they wouldn't do that before. So apparently the alternator is putting out juice, but it must not be enough, and the only electric stuff I have running is my lights, not even a single interior light (that includes behind the dash)
You need to get a digital volt meter. Go to Radio Shack and pick one up. Here's one for $20: http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...y_name=CTLG_011_008_002_000&product_id=22-810 Then set it to DC volts and check the battery voltage with the car off. A fully charged battery will around 12.9 volts. Start the car up and recheck it at idle. Normally you should read around 13.8 volts. A word about voltage regulators. They need a GOOD ground. From the factory, these cars had the negitive battery cable come from the battery, route over to the regulator, had a lug tap off that was bolted to the base of the regulator, then continued to the block. Replacement cables do not provide this grounding lug so most people dont do anything about it. A nongrounded regulator can and usually does, fry itself in about 5 secounds. A poorly grounded one can give all kinds of charging problems. I always run a 12 gauge wire straight from the negitive battery terminal, to the base of the regulator.
alt Just what is the the Alt rated at? It's stamnped on one of the bracket mounts. If it's only a 40 get at least a 60. If you can find a 100 alt and make it fit use that. It may be doing all it can just to charge the system a little. Maverick's didn't come with much electricalk equip from the factory. Lights, heater and a radio. Put a electic fan, fuel pump, stereo etc in there and then use the same one the factory put in there, ain't goin work.
I just did the same thing. I got a new battery the other day. Old one was junk It seemed to be getting weak yesterday. I just checked. the battery has 12.30 V at rest and 12.10V idleing. I ran a new ground from the mounting bolt on the regulator to the neg bat terminal. still 12.10V. I had the alt off and Autozone checked it as good. Bad Regulator?
Bad ground at the alternator? Bad fusable link? Bad connection at the field wire? Bad ammeter? Bad battery connections? There are a lot of places to look but the most common are sulfated battery posts (hard black coating) and clamps and the fusible link. Beyond that make sure the alternator is well grounded (don't rely on the mount to be a good ground - run a separate ground wire to the block)
TY Problem solved After checking a number of connections it turns out I failed to plug a terminal fully onto the alternator I now get 12.8V and 13.8 running.
