blackz28x07

So this winter I am storing my 98 Z28, auto, has 96K miles, it's in a heated garage. I put it in there and 2 weeks later when i went to take it for a drive I noticed that the voltage gauge seemed a little lower, but nothing that worried me. When I first start it up for the day it shows 14.5 volts, but as i drive it will sitt at 13.5 volts. Well i started it up for the first time this day it still showed 14.5, but it went down to 13 volts and sometimes droped a little down to maybe 12.8, but never got below that. Well i was out at night with some buddies and we were going to leave somewhere. Car started fine, but then when i put it in drive it died. Started it again just fine then it died again. Well then it wouldn't start for a couple minutes. I finally had to put it in neutral, leave the emergency brake down and start it and put it in drive. One of my buddies followed me home to make sure i got there fine. Well when i hit a bump i noticed my emergency brake light and abs light popped on for a second. Then i hit an even bigger bump and those lights came on again, but this time the speedometer and rpm gauge went down a little bit and popped right back up. The whole time the voltage gauge was right around 13 volts. Could this be the beginning of my alernator going bad or could it be a ground?

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

symptoms sound like a loose or faulty field/sense connector on the alternator, which is notorious for breaking, going bad, and needing replacement. It's not the big feed wire going to the alternator, but the smaller connector that plugs in which has two wires in it.
if it was the alternator per se, it would either not charge at all or overcharge. Being intermittent like you describe indicates more of a faulty connection somewhere, most likely that field connector, or possibly the cables/connectors to the battery.

great421

iTrader: (1)

It's either that, or if the connector (at the Alternator) has its wires bent at an extremely tight angle, then the break in the wire could be at the apex of the curve (inside the insulation).

If this is the case, test the wiring by wiggling the wires, with the engine running, while someone checks the Volt Meter. If the meter changes, then you've found the root cause!

Good Luck!

silverz28camaro

iTrader: (20)

Sometimes when you hit a bump the abs light will come on, or the low trac light may show, did that light ever come on? I had an alt go bad on me, The voltage would actually bounce and all the lighters would flicker, I also had the smaller inpuit wire break on me, The voltage would drop lower then 12.5 volts though.

As far as the car dying it doesn't sound like the alt...I would cheack all connections though as ^^^said. I had an issue where the car wouls start and dye like yours with my girlfriends car, turned out to be a loose battery connection, cheack those as well and make sure there isn't any corrosion, if so clean it and apply dielectric grease on them, or any elec. connector you work with no matter what it is.

Even taillight bulb connections you see burnt sometimes is a result from a poor connection, a little dielectric grease helps that out as well.

Good luck and post up if you find the problem.

blackz28x07

well i looked into the problem today. I notice my power steering pump was leaking since all of the area below it looked wet, and so was the resevoir. i couldn't tell if the alternator was wet also since it was dark out and all i had was a flashlight.

Also another thing. Whenever i go from park to drive/reverse when the car is all the way warmed up the rpms drop really low, and the oil pressure gauge and voltage gauge drop low.

I was messing with the ground wire leading from the battery to the strut housing right next to the better and it's stuck to the bolt on top of the connection. I tried to break it loose, but i guess it's corroded on there. Could this be causing my problems? I tried WD-40 to help break it up, but didn't have any luck. Does anyone know of anything that works well with breaking up corroded bolts?

Thanks for all the replies by the way. I love this site, there's so many knowledgable people who are willing to help!

Danny2tek

iTrader: (1)

If your leaking power steering fluid onto the alternator, that alternator is on its way out.