I can't drive my car more than 6 min without dieing. I'll charge the battery (that is in the trunk) and run it around the block a few times and it'll die. If I pull the + cable it will die right away. So I thought It would need a new Alt. Just put in a new Alt in tonight an it still dies as soon as the + cable is removed.... What did I do wrong this time
I don't know, it's pretty hard to see it from here....my superman xray vision isn't working at this time. Maybe if you describe ALL about how you wired up the alternator we could try to help? or maybe someone near you knows how this stuff works and could take a look at it?
do you have the wiring from the alt to the fuse box? The main red lead. You should have 2 wires, one to the starter, and another back to the fuse box via the ignition. The alt. should provide power back to the fuse box, when the battery is disconnected....and vice versa. Did you check the fuse box for a blown fuse? I wonder, do you have the large (silver) fuse in the fuse box? cant think what its called right now. the fuse that is. Check the wiring diagram...ill check mine here.
It's a standard 1 wire alt. Wired to the fuse panel and the silanoid (sp) to get the charge back to the battery. It's a painless wiring harness. THe motor is grounded to the frame, so is the battery at the rear.
Crash, your alternator has a #1 and #2 position on the top of it. You need to add a wire from there to the post in the back (where the pwr lead goes)...or take the wire from the fuse box and place it in the #1 position. The alt. is not getting 'excited' to start the charge. On my ford...I put a small lead from the #1 position to the post on the back of the alt...pulled the battery cable and it kept running.
Many alternators will not make a charge at idle, they have to turn at a certain RPM before they start charging, and also, there needs to be a battery in place to get them to start to charge. The "pulling the cable off" thing doesn't always work. I wired an alt. into a '63 Rambler once and I learned all about that crap. Does your alternator circuit have a light on it? It should, that's a necessary piece of the circuit, not just a convenience. Basically, turn the key on, light comes on, feeding power to the alternator. Engine starts and runs to a certain RPM, alternator starts charging and sends power the opposite direction through the lightbulb and the bulb goes out. Doesn't work without one, as I found out after hours of head scratching. Also, I've driven cars without charging systems for at least an hour off of the battery. If your car is dying after a couple times around the block, you may have a bad battery or some huge drain on the circuit I used to have a '90 Grand Prix when I was going to school, I was poor and couldn't afford the $120 for an alternator when it went out, so for a while I had two batteries, I could make a 50 mile round trip on one battery to go to school and back, then swap it out and charge up the other battery for the next trip. I don't suggest doing that, but the car should run awhile off of the battery.
which terminal on the solenoid is the alternator connected to? the big one that goes to the battery? if so, then it sounds like you have it wired up correctly. btw, you say it's a 1 wire alternator...does it have a couple terminals on it like this (at arrow) or is there a blank plastic plug in that hole?
Yes the alternator is connected to the big one that goes to the battery. My car also has a elect fuel pump and a elect. fan that runs constant.... I live in the desert it's hot and until it cools down to the mid 80's I feel better running it constant. I put a switch in later, when I get the bugs worked out...
back to the second part of my question above..... btw, you say it's a 1 wire alternator...does it have a couple terminals on it like this (at arrow) or is there a blank plastic plug in that hole? if the alternator has those terminals in that hole, then it's a 3 wire alternator, and you need to connect those terminals for it to work. If there's just a solid plug in that hole, then it is a 1 wire and it's wired up ok now. The electric fan explains why it drains the battery so fast.
Ok now I took my org. alt. to the shop for testing. It's good. So I put it back in wired the exciter wire to post #2 and the batery to the post in back. Start the car and it runs , pull the + cable off the battery and it still runs , give the car some gas and then it dies . What next
someone forgot to tell you to NOT pull the battery cable off when the engine is running, eh? alternators don't like that. I don't know what's wrong now....maybe you fried the regulator in the alternator? or maybe there's something else wrong with the ignition or wiring or carb or something.
I don't think I fried anything. I just tested the alt and it was good. I'm going to get a meter in the morning to see what is going on at the battery and the alt.... What should I be looking for???? Thanks
look for about 13 to 14 volts between ground and the output (screw) terminal on the alternator when it's running, and the same at the battery. How did you wire up the two small terminals? I know some guys posted pictures of how to do it...but not all are the same. Where did you connect terminal #1? where did you connect terminal #2?
#1 has nothing connected #2 has the exciter wire to the fuse box. Post in the back goes to the starter/ battery
I hope I caught you early.......... Don't pull your positive cable any more. Use the meter. Check battery voltage, should be 13 v. Start it up, it should climb above 14 V. Put on some loads, hi beams etc, voltage should remain the same or only drop slightly. Should these things prove to be true the alternator charging system works... Post appropirate reply and we'll move on.......
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