It Never Ends...

[TType84]

car shows symptoms of bad starter.. put new starter on.. those things are HUGE.. go to crank, clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick.... roll up window (was adjusting my passenger window for an hour) ... with battery charger on that is.. window rolls up once fine.. then all of the lights in the car dim and it rolls up REAAAAL slow.. headlights on.. yellow.. get new battery, after 5 months, on a 75 month warrany 1000 cold cranking amps battery... go to shut her down tonight after crusin and such.. bright VOLTS light comes on.. i unplug the regulator and it goes off, i figure cant hurt the car when its off, right guys?... anyway i dunno what exactly is wrong with the alt but its under warranty too.. so, starter was on its way out anyway.. as was the battery... and tonight my alt starts to die. my car goes through alternators, batteries, starters, transmission mounts, brake pads/shoes, etc like normal people change their oil.. what is with this car? it KILLS parts...

 

[TURBOV6]

I know how it feels

I have 4 buick (2 non turbo) and gone through it like you. Thank god for remanufactur parts!

 

[blasian]

Maybe you have a bad ground? I had similar problems as you. Once it turns out that one of my alternator wires got cut in half. THe other time was my battery terminals/connectors, I couldn't keep them tight enought and ended up replacing them with new ones.

 

[Buick From Hell]

I can't remember how many times I've had bad cables do like that.

 

[TType84]

what wire? the regulator wires or...?

 

[Stephen Soulsby]

All hot-air Turbo Regals use the old SI style alternator. When you pull the connector going into the alternator the voltage light is disabled and so is the alternator. I once had an '82 N/A 231 Regal do the funniest thing. The volt light jumps on, all lights go dim, and runs just on the battery. I opened the hood and found that the alternator positive lead going into the battery was somehow cut. I could not explain it. I fixed it and it happened six months later. Maybe the fan hit it? It was far away from the fan though. Anyways it is something to check for. If you di need a new alternator, it is a great time to upgrade to the more powerful and more reliable CS style alternators. If you're interested in that I wrote a tech article on the swap in the tech section of G-Body.org that will help. The NAPA part number for an alternator I swapped in my '84 T-Type is 13-4548. It is 100 amps (6more than stock) but far more reliable and puts out more power at idle. Another point to note is these fantastic 1000cca batteries SUCK!!! Batteries with a very high CCA rating achieve that by using more plates inside. To fit more plates in they have to be thinner. When they are thinner they are brittle and easily break inside. The only exception to this rule is the Excide/NAPA Sub-Zero batteries. If you pick one up you notice right away that they are much heavier than normal. Personally I like ACDelco batteries, but that's just me.

Have your battery and alternator tested and check all grounds.

 

[dforte]

i had the same problem with my 84 last year. replaced every thing.then i got new battery cables from caspers no more problems it starts right up.the ones from caspers are nice and heavy duty

 

[TType84]

the alt was fixed, regulator.. under warranty, its 108 amps, and its a LARGE cased alt.. cause i got the bracket off a carbed turbo monte... the stock alt wont fit ... way too small..