obelisk

I'm getting very frustrated at my car, I just bought an Optima Redtop battery and I really like it. However my car is draining it because it's not charging when I run the car. So my first reaction was the alternator... changed it out with a remanufactured unit from Autozone. Drove to work this morning and my battery was drained, I barely made it to the parking lot. My turn signals stopped working the voltage was so low. I know I hooked it up the right way. Now anyone else have a problem like this before? The only think I can think of is an electrical ground somewhere. But if I had a ground that was draining the electrical system so bad, why did I even get my car to run in the first place?
-Joe :confused:

88'Cubka

Check your grounds......

JBR

Disconnect your pos battery cable with a muiti tester check for continuity between the pos cable and the neg. If you get a reading or beep your have a pos to ground short. The clock could give you a reading so pull the clock fuse. Then check again , pull another fuse and check again, ect. ect. until you get no reading this will isolate your drain( assuming you had a reading to start with). This is a great proceedure if the drain happens with the switch in off. But if your drain only happens when the car is on then with the tester in the DC volt mode, (car running) check pos. battery to neg.(frame of car) you should have at least 13.5 volts. If not then check output side of altenator,pos (red lead on meter) and neg. (black lead on meter to frame or altenator bracket) you should have +13.5 volts. If not I would say the new altenator is bad.

NHvette

The problem isn't a drain ... obviously the charging system is not working.

I don't have any books here, but most repair manuals will have a troubleshooting guide that entails measuring the voltages at the control wires
as well as the output voltage.

Is it an external or internal voltage regulator ? If external, then that is the likely culprit.

81 ... I think is internally regulated. Often the two wires at the connector
can start to break under the insulation from flexing and corrosion.
If the wire feels flimsy near the connector ... this could be it.

:seeya


[Modified by NHvette, 9:51 AM 3/5/2004]

Never Finished

I have found rebuilt alternators to be very iffy. I went through 5 in as many days on one car before I got one that worked. Ususally it takes 2 or 3. Rarely in the last 15 years have I gotten one that works the first time. Poor rebuild quality is probably the answer. I had the same problem with rebuilt A/C compressors. Compressors are much more difficult to install so I started buying new ones only. Never had a problem with new compressors. Alternators are easy to install. Most take less than 30 mins. New alternators are so expensive, that it is worth it to keep taking them back until you get a good one. By the way rebuilt starters are iffy too.

marshrat99

:iagree: with Never Finished. Although I've not had alternator problems on my Vette, I had to replace my pickup's three times the same day. The first two were rebuilt. The third and only good one was new, GM out of our local Chevy dealer stock room. :mad

stpman

That's why I rebuild them myself, it's not hard

Steve :steering:

neverendingproject

fwiw, i have read many post over in C4 regarding new optimas discharging rapidly w/out any current drain.
charge and load test the battery. if it passes, get a cheap multimeter and check the voltage at the battery while the engine is running. should be at least 1 volt more than with the engine off. if its not, check it at the alternator. should have within .5 of battery voltage w/ engine off, at least 1 higher when running.

obelisk

I found it... t'was the charging system. I found a heavily corroded wire going to the pos terminal... thanks guys. I do think I have a ground too because the battery will drain slowly if I don't drive it for a couple of weeks but that's a whole other issue.
-Joe

81' Corvette Guy

Terminal to what..battery, altenator...what..continue..don't leave us hanging! :nono: Yes..you can have a bad engine ground and it will drain battery..had one in a 64 Thunderbird..yes a ford! Started off fine in the evening..then put the lights on and barely made it to my destination..found that when I re-installed the engine the ground strap that went from the right valve cover to the fire wall was not connected...DOH. Connected it and problem solved..sometimes it is the simplest things... :(


[Modified by 81' Corvette Guy, 6:54 AM 3/6/2004]