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    Charging system Woes

    Hey guys,

    Well, I'll give you some background first:

    I bought the car, PO said it needed a new alternator. I replaced it, everything was great for a while.
    I started having issue where the lights and blower would fluctuate with rpms, I changed the Voltage reg. Ran fine for a while.
    Recently, the issue returned, and it was very slow to start, so I replaced the battery and the battery ground.
    I drove it for a day, the issue continued to worsen throughout the day, ran as if the entire electrical system was running off only the battery. At the end of the day, the car would not even start.
    SO, I read up, and discovered it could be the chassis to fram ground connection, so I replaced that cable with a piece of 0 guage, it is definately grounded.

    Now, it will not start on it's own, the battery is dead, read like 7 V or something, it does start when boosted, so it's not the starter or any +ve cable. I ran the car for a while once boosted, about 45 minutes and reads ~14 V, turned it off and it would not start on its own again, so the battery is either not charging OR it was really really dead, and the alternator, being a lousy battery charger, did not do the trick.

    Today I checked all the connections again, can't find anything. Also, when I try to start it, the rpm needle goes nuts for a second.

    Does anyone have ANY idea what is going on? DO I just need to get a trickle charger and chare the brand new battery over night?

    The only answer I can come up with is the ground that I replaced WAS the problem (it was corroded and nasty, but not broken) and when I ran the car before replacing the cable, I killed the new battery, and it has not recovered.

    Thanks for any help, or just taking the time to read this long-ass post!

    Luke
    Last edited by Lucas.B; 12-01-2007, 03:39 PM.

    #2
    Battery's just run down. Charge it on a charger or take it to an auto parts store and have them test/charge it. I know Advance Auto Parts will charge them for free in about an hour... I work there.

    By the way, the alternator's job is NOT to charge the battery, only to compensate for the load the running gear puts on it. If you drive a car with a dead battery it WILL destroy a perfectly good alternator.

    "See, we're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired."

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      #3
      Awesome, thanks so much for the advice, matt. I'll go get a charger ASAP.

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