Short somewhere?

[mamzak]

Alright, so a while back my alternator power cable melted, and it touched the block and I believe short circuited it and fried it... I replaced the alternator but didn't have money to replace the melted cable, so I just electrical taped it, and the car has run well for over a month now!

Today I got home from work, parked the car, went inside for literally 5 minutes, came out and the car wouldn't start. It BARELY cranked. SO my neighbor came over and we boosted it and checked the readings off the alt and battery, the alternator was putting out 14v, but the battery was only putting out ~10.5v and didn't increase in output when we revved the car. So am I correct in assuming there's a short, or a break in the wire that connects the alt and the battery? Or what else could cause this?


Gracias R3vsters.

[xwill112x]

maybe your battery is finally dying?

[mamzak]

I don't think so... it was fine when I left work, cranked right up, and then when I got home, parked and went to re start it it was completely dead... It wouldn't die that fast would it?

[xwill112x]

it could, the lead inside of it could have just broken..idk. it shouldnt drain that fast with just a short though, you can leave your lights on longer than that, and it will still start.

[mamzak]

Alright, so I got a charging test done: Will, looks like that alternator you sold me is a bit tired, showed 11.99V and only 68A. Should be 14V and 90A.

However, the battery isn't getting any power from the alternator... I have a little battery voltage meter on my CD player, and it shows about 11.5 driving, and then if I turn the headlights on, and the fan on it will dip to about 11.2 and stay there. Even a weak alternator would be able to hold it sort of constant-ish right?