I assume I have a bad ground instead of alternator due to the following symptoms:
Battery is brand new, I can put it on a trickle charger and it holds a charge just fine, unless it is hooked up to the car and the car is running.
My in car volt meter reads at idle 11.8 most of the time, at the battery 12.2 or so. Occasionally it jumps up to 13.5V at both locations for 3-5 minutes randomly, then drops back.
I have the stock BMW radio, occasionally in the past few weeks it would stop working and display CODE, same as if i had unplugged the battery. Now when I turn it on, it flashes random characters and goes blank. If I leave it on I get a capacitive whine which varies with engine speed.
Turning on the AC drops the voltage by one volt at idle. This discharges the battery fairly quickly if I keep the AC on, or leave the switch on when I turn of the car. There might be a parasitic drain somewhere else in the system too, but I want to make sure this isn't an alternator/ground issue first.
The chassis ground strap near the stock oil level sender is still connected to the chassis, though the wiring is a bit worn, there is no jacket on it.
Since the alternator is capable of putting out 13.5V it has the potential to work. I'm thinking about making a new chassis ground out of a 4gauge wire and some rings, and running a brand new directly off the alternator nut behind the rack and pinon setup to the strut tower. I think there is a ground somewhere in the driver side footwell as well.
Any suggestions?
Battery is brand new, I can put it on a trickle charger and it holds a charge just fine, unless it is hooked up to the car and the car is running.
My in car volt meter reads at idle 11.8 most of the time, at the battery 12.2 or so. Occasionally it jumps up to 13.5V at both locations for 3-5 minutes randomly, then drops back.
I have the stock BMW radio, occasionally in the past few weeks it would stop working and display CODE, same as if i had unplugged the battery. Now when I turn it on, it flashes random characters and goes blank. If I leave it on I get a capacitive whine which varies with engine speed.
Turning on the AC drops the voltage by one volt at idle. This discharges the battery fairly quickly if I keep the AC on, or leave the switch on when I turn of the car. There might be a parasitic drain somewhere else in the system too, but I want to make sure this isn't an alternator/ground issue first.
The chassis ground strap near the stock oil level sender is still connected to the chassis, though the wiring is a bit worn, there is no jacket on it.
Since the alternator is capable of putting out 13.5V it has the potential to work. I'm thinking about making a new chassis ground out of a 4gauge wire and some rings, and running a brand new directly off the alternator nut behind the rack and pinon setup to the strut tower. I think there is a ground somewhere in the driver side footwell as well.
Any suggestions?
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