Alternators and battery keep dying
Alternators and battery keep dying I currenly live in Florida. Since I have moved here in 2011 I have gone through three alternators and numerous dead batteries. The car is a 2002 Camaro with just over 50K miles. What could be causing this? Could it have anything to do with the battery being in the rear spare tire compartment, the underdrive pulley, the car has no MAF and is speed density tuned or the MS4 cams rough idle? I cannot figure out what is causing it.
Any insight is appreciated.
Any insight is appreciated.
I was dealing with those same issues a couple of years ago.
I even went up to an AD244 truck style alternator.
I ended taking out all of my battery cables.
Even the ones that I had already replaced.
I found I had corrosion on some of the connectors.
I put in nice 0gauge cable.
For each of the connectors, I used higher end gold plated car audio stuff.
The kind you put the cable in and then tighten down the set screw.
I then put two layers of heat shrink tubing over the connectors.
I haven't had a problem in two years.
I even went up to an AD244 truck style alternator.
I ended taking out all of my battery cables.
Even the ones that I had already replaced.
I found I had corrosion on some of the connectors.
I put in nice 0gauge cable.
For each of the connectors, I used higher end gold plated car audio stuff.
The kind you put the cable in and then tighten down the set screw.
I then put two layers of heat shrink tubing over the connectors.
I haven't had a problem in two years.
loose connection on the excitor wire connector ? power steering dripping on it ?
I just bought a new connector from GM for 30$ and spliced it in to pin #15 in the red harness of the PCM and it's never been better
I just bought a new connector from GM for 30$ and spliced it in to pin #15 in the red harness of the PCM and it's never been better
2X vote OP -
I've got monster welding cables running to my trunk with crimped and soldered ends - overkill? Maybe, but I've had zero issues too.
I've got monster welding cables running to my trunk with crimped and soldered ends - overkill? Maybe, but I've had zero issues too.
I was dealing with those same issues a couple of years ago.
I even went up to an AD244 truck style alternator.
I ended taking out all of my battery cables.
Even the ones that I had already replaced.
I found I had corrosion on some of the connectors.
I put in nice 0gauge cable.
For each of the connectors, I used higher end gold plated car audio stuff.
The kind you put the cable in and then tighten down the set screw.
I then put two layers of heat shrink tubing over the connectors.
I haven't had a problem in two years.
I even went up to an AD244 truck style alternator.
I ended taking out all of my battery cables.
Even the ones that I had already replaced.
I found I had corrosion on some of the connectors.
I put in nice 0gauge cable.
For each of the connectors, I used higher end gold plated car audio stuff.
The kind you put the cable in and then tighten down the set screw.
I then put two layers of heat shrink tubing over the connectors.
I haven't had a problem in two years.
I ordered 2 gauge cable for the batter to to alt. I think I have 4 gauge now. The alt. was locally rebuilt alt (160 amps). It's definitley the wiring. The wire from the battery that connects to the alt and fuse boxes is all corroded.
Last edited by -=Modified=-; Aug 7, 2013 at 09:47 AM.
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Revisiting old threads:
The fix was moving the batter back to the engine bay from the spare tire compartment. No issues now. I used a heavy gauge wire to relocate the battery to the rear. Perhaps there was too much resistance and not allowing the battery to recharge.
The fix was moving the batter back to the engine bay from the spare tire compartment. No issues now. I used a heavy gauge wire to relocate the battery to the rear. Perhaps there was too much resistance and not allowing the battery to recharge.
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all you would have to do is put a multimeter across the battery terminals while the engine is running, and see what voltage the battery is at.
in old stock form using a traditional 3 wire alternator, 1 of those wires was the voltage sense wire that would run to the battery or very near the battery. this would correct any resistance and wiring length problems, and this is how alternator would know what output voltage to be at. for instance if the voltage regulator in the alternator wants 14.500 volts to go to the battery, then it might have to output 14.650 volts at it's output terminal on rear of alternator case so at the battery it would be 14.500 volts.
When you relocate the battery and don't relocate that sense wire then you start under volting and possibly undercharging the battery.
The LS1 has a 1 wire alternator and that goes to the PCM, unlike the old 3-wire [analog] alternators. So there's no specific sense wire, and just off top of my head would be the immediate issue and i don't know how you would be able to correct for that with the LS1 oem style alternator and engine computer. it was not designed nor programmed to have a battery mounted in the truck ~20 feet away. And it makes sense that for it to work [it has worked] you'd have to be meticulous on your wiring going from original battery location to new location.
in old stock form using a traditional 3 wire alternator, 1 of those wires was the voltage sense wire that would run to the battery or very near the battery. this would correct any resistance and wiring length problems, and this is how alternator would know what output voltage to be at. for instance if the voltage regulator in the alternator wants 14.500 volts to go to the battery, then it might have to output 14.650 volts at it's output terminal on rear of alternator case so at the battery it would be 14.500 volts.
When you relocate the battery and don't relocate that sense wire then you start under volting and possibly undercharging the battery.
The LS1 has a 1 wire alternator and that goes to the PCM, unlike the old 3-wire [analog] alternators. So there's no specific sense wire, and just off top of my head would be the immediate issue and i don't know how you would be able to correct for that with the LS1 oem style alternator and engine computer. it was not designed nor programmed to have a battery mounted in the truck ~20 feet away. And it makes sense that for it to work [it has worked] you'd have to be meticulous on your wiring going from original battery location to new location.