Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 2nd H.O. Alternator SHOT...what's with that?? HELP

Alright guys.....

I was checking all my grounds today for my stereo system and I found this.....see the picture and I'll explain.



please read the beginning of this post to refresh you of the problem i was having.....

if you can zoom in there should be a read curve.....that bracket holding down the batter cable was bent like the curve......only problem was that the curve in the hold down bracket was too much.....and after disconnected my amps....the neg. battery cable was loose from the terminal......the terminal was tight on the battery but the cable was loose on the terminal. So I flipped the bracket over and screwed it down nice and tight.

Next, I had checkers charge my battery 3~4 weeks ago...it's been in my trunk disconnected since then......and it only had about 8 volts left in it......shouldn't this battery hold a charge for a longer period of time???

Anyways, I jumped it and it started up. After driving around for awhile i was able to determine that it was charging because my voltage gauge would go up to 14V....but it still wasn't charging like it should....from my experience anyways.

I took it to Checkers...the tested the battery and they said the charging system was not working.....i revved it up to about 3~4k and it jumped up to 14V.....the guy told me to go home and disconnect the battery....if your car dies your alt. is bad....if it keeps running your alt. is good......well my car kept running when the battery was disconnected. I know some people say this is bad for the alt....but at this point I assumed it was bad anyways.....

I then took it right back to checkers and had them test the battery again......walla.....charging system was working fine. what's up with that. what causes it to work occasionally??

Also, when I drive I can very faintly hear the alternator wind up...right at that very instant the voltage gauge shoots to 14V.....then when i lay off the gas or idle it stops and voltage goes down to 12V.....hit the gas and the faint sound of it winding up again and the voltage shoots up to 14V......other times i won't here anything and with any little movement of the gas pedal it will create a rise and fall in voltage similar to the movement of the gas pedal....this I would assume it how it should be......as opposed to it only charging around 3~4k or more......

sorry to string this out but I want to make sure you have all the details.....

What do you guys think is going on here? also in the picture you will see the cable....it appears to have been burnt......any suggestions...comment...opinions....

At this point I don't think it's my alternator....which is huge relief but I'll let y'all be the judge of that.

thanks

slingersvt

Charge the battery. Make sure wiring from battery to alternator and ground is good. Then check battery and alternator voltages again, if you still have the voltage fluctuation, it could be a bad alternator voltage regulator. Good luck

can you give me some more details on how to check the ground....where?? I highly doubt it's the cable as it was installed new last year by audio shop....????

This thread and the the thread inside one of the posts may help.

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1078055&Forum=trouble&Words=alternator&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=1&Limit=25&Old=3weeks&Main=1078042&Search=true#Post1078055

Hey.....thanks!!

tell me if this makes sense......when i connected the bettery when it only had like 6~8V and tried to start the car.....wipers turned on, etc. (i've seen this a few other times when I've had alt./bat. problems)....here's the funny thing.......I turned the car off....took the key out and the wipers still were going and car was still trying to start!!!!!!!

I've got the remote start w/ the clutch bypass.....the wiring may be jacked up because occasionally when I connect the battery the car will start up....funny huh....especially when the car is in gear....j/k the car has always been in neutral.

does this give you anymore insight on what could be going on?

Tomorrow I will replace the battery terminal and check the connections on the power distribution box dealeo to make sure all connections are good. then i'll start taking voltage readings to see what i can find.

any additional thoughts???

my car has been giving me the same problems, I have been through 5 alterantors in a little over a year, first off make sure that you have the little bracket on the back of the alternator bolted up good, I found in my case that not having that bracket results in vibration at high rpms and that was causing the rear fan in the alternaor to come apart and short out the stator, next look very closely at you power dist. center under the hood, mine got water in it and that caused corrosion and also shorted out intermitenly causing my starter to engage while drivinf down the road. even after pulling the key out it would still crank. next I there is a power and ground wire right next to each other, ground goes to the bell housing, power to the starter, mine rubbed together and would intermitently short. What I have finally ended up with on my car after many trails, is this solution. I replaced all my main power and ground cables with 0 gauge amp wire, including the wire from the alt. to the mega fuse and from there to the starter and battery, also I too have a system and one thing many people fale to realize is that the ground side of the electrical system must carry the same current as the power side. I see lots of people run 0 gauge pwer wire and 8 gauge ground wire, they need to match. long I know but I dont want you to have to go through all the trouble I did, oh and do you have a capacitor? might think about one, or the one of the new Advanced Glass Mat Batteries. I have seen them do amazing things on cars with systems. good luck

"......when i connected the bettery when it only had like 6~8V and tried to start the car.....wipers turned on, etc. (i've seen this a few other times when I've had alt./bat. problems)"
Yes, low battery voltage can cause this.

"....here's the funny thing.......I turned the car off....took the key out and the wipers still were going and car was still trying to start!!!!!!!"
Now this is the Twilight Zone to me.

"any additional thoughts???"
Do listen to BSOELMAN's suggestions too. 5 alternators is a lot of experience.

I can put an alternator on my car in 35 minutes flat I go a little different route than the how too though, discon. bat. pull right front tire, remove splash shield, remove belt, remove outer tie rod ent from knuckle, remove y-pipe, remove wire connectors and unbolt rear bracket followed by other two bolts and out the hole left by moving the tie rod end. hey it took as long to right this as it takes to install

i remove it 5 times a year, no time for rust to build up. I have a zipper on it.