You could also try a really really non-scientific test in the driveway of your battery to see if there is a "drain" by removing the ground cable and seeing if there is an arc between the battery terminal and the cable as it is disconnected... granted, this is only a simple(not very accurate by any means, especially with the new cars with on-board computers/clocks etc...as they do draw current constantly..)  however with "older"cars this is usually not the case.... can also take a voltmeter and place the positive lead on the meter to the Negative cable(while it is disconnected) and the negative lead on the meter to the negative terminal on the battery.... in an ideal condition, there should not be a voltage reading.... or if there is, it may be slight.. though best bet is to get the alternator/regulator tested...

     Ingenious ! Gotta love a good explosion.

               What's wrong with electric cars ?



aceinthehole2007-04-01 09:39:47

Joel I put the volt meter to DCV side on the battery at idle and it read 11.80 rev the car up no change? How do you past a picture on here I would like to show the fuse box its a mess.

If you put the red lead on the positive and the black lead on the negative and saw no change at high rpm then the alternator is not charging the battery. The fact that you said the car stayed running when you removed the battery cable is puzzling. Unless there is some mixed up wiring from the battery to the alternator i don't see how that is possible.
Scott

in my opinion it is the regulator thats bad. alt is putting out enough to keep car running but not enough to charge battery. friend had a van that showed the same, he replaced the alt. and the problem was solved. understand fuse box may be a mess but the alt + reg. would be  probably be where the problem is.

Yes one other thing when I turn the battery cut off switch  to off the car dies? So I Guess I will change out the alternator. Regulator is in the alt right? How do you past a picture on here?

I'd agree on the alternator being fried.  Rather than getting the original rebuilt, a good idea would be to upgrade to a higher current version.  They all look pretty much the same for those years and will last you longer and provide better running for all your electrics.

[QUOTE=Chips58]I'd agree on the alternator being fried.  Rather than getting the original rebuilt, a good idea would be to upgrade to a higher current version.  They all look pretty much the same for those years and will last you longer and provide better running for all your electrics.[/QUOTE]

It do sound like the alt. is not putting out enough, tho 11.8v is enough to keep the engine running. Have your alternator checked somewhere, before replacing it. If you take it somewhere, and it is tested, but it puts out more voltage while testing, you may have a wiring issue, or a dead cell in the battery.

a dead cell in the battery would  show on the volt meter as 10.5 volts... each cell is 2.2 volts...  and when a load is put on it, the cranking amps would fall almost flat, say around 100 cca.  Typically even a bad cell battery right off a charger will only read about 11 volts... (i've seen many many many.... did i say many? batteries in the last 8 years to that affect, working for Interstate Batteries...)   but the True test is to take a hydrometer and check the cells,  fully charged will be around 1.275+ with each cell reading realitivly the same(sometimes there is a little variance, but not much)... if its more than .05 between cells, then there is a possibilty of a bad cell...