97 corvette alternator/battery issues. PLEASE HELP
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Joined: Jul 2014
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From: Birmingham AL
97 corvette alternator/battery issues. PLEASE HELP Ok so about a week ago my car got a "charge system failure" message. I did some research and decided it probably wasn't a big deal so I kept driving..
Couple days later I'm driving down the road, and my front speakers go out.. So I'm thinking it must be a ground wire behind my radio. So I'm in the middle of nowhere so I keep going. About a mile later, all my lights start flashing, and everything on my instrument cluster(all the gauges) start going from 0/200, bouncing back and forth. It was Crazy. So I was about to pull over and then engine shuts off. I was luckily able to coast into a parking spot at a dollar general. I then sat for a minute, tried cranking my car and got the dead battery clicking. The whole time I was thinking it was my alternator. But somehow I had some corvette guys convince me I had a bad battery, so I went and bought a new battery. Car drove great all the way home until I got another charger system failure. Next day I took it on 2 60mile trips and it drive fine but I noticed when I was driving at night my lights weren't very bright, and my voltage was only at 10.5> volts.
Since then I've taken my alternator off, taken it to an alternator shop. Had the guy take it apart and check it out and showed me that it is working. (He had some machine show me).
Couple days later I'm driving down the road, and my front speakers go out.. So I'm thinking it must be a ground wire behind my radio. So I'm in the middle of nowhere so I keep going. About a mile later, all my lights start flashing, and everything on my instrument cluster(all the gauges) start going from 0/200, bouncing back and forth. It was Crazy. So I was about to pull over and then engine shuts off. I was luckily able to coast into a parking spot at a dollar general. I then sat for a minute, tried cranking my car and got the dead battery clicking. The whole time I was thinking it was my alternator. But somehow I had some corvette guys convince me I had a bad battery, so I went and bought a new battery. Car drove great all the way home until I got another charger system failure. Next day I took it on 2 60mile trips and it drive fine but I noticed when I was driving at night my lights weren't very bright, and my voltage was only at 10.5> volts.
Since then I've taken my alternator off, taken it to an alternator shop. Had the guy take it apart and check it out and showed me that it is working. (He had some machine show me).
If the alternator is good and the battery is good, then the next things to look at are the exciter wire and to see if there are any loose/corroded cables coming from the alternator or battery.
What does you voltmeter on the dash say as the car is winding down?
What does you voltmeter on the dash say as the car is winding down?
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 5
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From: Birmingham AL
If that is your dash with the key turned but car off, and the battery voltage is good, then I'd look for a bad connection.
If that is your dash with the car running, I'd look at the exciter first.
If that is your dash with the car running, I'd look at the exciter first.
