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electrical guru's HELP!!!

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drive805

Member
Joined
May 30, 2001
Messages
291
While trying to figure out other problems (which i found out was the coil pac)
My scanmaster was only showing 10.6 battery volts...
iIchecked at the altenator and it showed 11.6 volts... removed, and had it checked and was told that i was ok...
re-installed, checked the Alt. running and got 11.6 volts 10.3-6 on scanmaster
tried another Alt. and still the same...
What do i need to check?
both Altenators that i have tried put out 11.6-11.8 at the BAT post .... Is it just my luck that both are bad? Or..... do i have another electrical gremlin. Also the battery had low voltage 11.7 so its now on the charger....anyone??? help?????
 
battery

Make sure your connections are clean and tight at both ends. You might have a bad battery, any cranking issues?
 
On the plug that goes into the alternator, check for voltage at the little brown wire(I'm pretty sure it's brown anyway). Should be around 2.5V with the key on, engine off. If there isn't voltage there, check to see if the bulb for the idiot light in the dash is blown. If it is, the alternator won't get trigger voltage and will not "turn on". The SM voltage reading will be off as it's reading the available voltage after everything else has consumed some of the power. With the alternator functioning properly you should read about 13.4V DC on the SM.
 
Hi,
You need to get that charging voltage up to at least 13.8-14 2 volts with minimal load on the system. It's possible that the Alternator wiring is at fault, so that is good advice to observe the charge warning lamp. It should be on bright with key on,not running. It should also be completely off while the car is running. A B+(large wire) voltage resistance problem is also possible.That's the wire that runs from the Alternator to the Battery.Good luck!
 
Pull the battery cable off and check voltage on battery. If you've lost a cell in the battery, you will only read 10.5 or so volts. A bad battery will load down the regulator and you will not see full charge voltage.
 
thanks for the info...

the battery only had 11.6 volts so i charged it and it seems to be holding a charge ...12.5 volts....
i checked the single wire (brown) from the Alt. and got no voltage... pulled dash apart and bulbs looked good but changed with another... still no light... pulled out all bulbs and put in just the volts bulb (idiot light) now it lights. Started car and checked voltage and now it has 13.6 at Alt and 13.4 on SM, but when i checked the brown wire again it still has no voltage but its showing a charge on the SM and at the Alt. and at the Batt. of 13.4-13.8 volts should i worry? thanks again in advance
 
around 13.5 volts is what you should read while running if all is good, as high as 14.2 if battery low but good condition. Keep an eye on it for few days of running it normally. Since all seems well now that the battery is up where it should be your charging system seems to be ok. Odds are you have a weak cell in battery that the alternator couldn't compete with that an outside charger could push past. My guess would be thou that you will find the battery back to 11 volts after a few start / run cycles. If so, replace the battery and I'm betting your problems go away.
 
battery...

battery is only about 6 months old so i am going to try and take it back to the AP store and have them load test it if it fails then i will get a new one.... thanks
 
As long as it charges it should be fine, turn everything on like the lights and rear defoger and see if the output remains same or what close.

Prasad
 
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