another alternator thread... i cant figure it out?
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
From: Orlando, Fl
another alternator thread... i cant figure it out? i will start with what i have done and see what you guys say.
last year i had plans to get the ptk ebay turbo kit. so i relocated the alt. up top, pass. head with a relocation kit that (at the time i didn't realize) puts the stock tension-er down where the stock alt. went. kinda defeating the purpose. well shortly after that the alt. issues started. 14v cold 11-12v hot. finally the stock one quit. wasn't charging at all.
bought a replacement (warranty) now this one lasted about 6 months. it started doing the same.(which is about a month ago) 14v cold 11v hots. except it was a little different. driving around 12-13v, i would come to a red light and bam down to 10-11v. figured that alt. was done, lets go replace it again!!
well i decided to upgrade to the 145amp alt. figured it would fix problem once in for all. well i put it on yesterday, started her up and super! 14v.
i decide to put some load on it and see if the problem was fixed. idling 900rpm, no radio,no nothing, just click a/c on. about 20 sec. with it on. Bam! drops to 10-11v and doesn't come back up until i turn a/c off. and then it only comes back up to 12-13v.
was thinking today that maybe the a/c unit is bad or something, drawing to much. well in traffic today the high speeds kicked on and same thing happened 10-11v didn't come back up! high speed turned off and back to 12-13v.
what could be causing the large draw causing the alt. not to bring it back up?
last year i had plans to get the ptk ebay turbo kit. so i relocated the alt. up top, pass. head with a relocation kit that (at the time i didn't realize) puts the stock tension-er down where the stock alt. went. kinda defeating the purpose. well shortly after that the alt. issues started. 14v cold 11-12v hot. finally the stock one quit. wasn't charging at all.
bought a replacement (warranty) now this one lasted about 6 months. it started doing the same.(which is about a month ago) 14v cold 11v hots. except it was a little different. driving around 12-13v, i would come to a red light and bam down to 10-11v. figured that alt. was done, lets go replace it again!!
well i decided to upgrade to the 145amp alt. figured it would fix problem once in for all. well i put it on yesterday, started her up and super! 14v.
i decide to put some load on it and see if the problem was fixed. idling 900rpm, no radio,no nothing, just click a/c on. about 20 sec. with it on. Bam! drops to 10-11v and doesn't come back up until i turn a/c off. and then it only comes back up to 12-13v.
was thinking today that maybe the a/c unit is bad or something, drawing to much. well in traffic today the high speeds kicked on and same thing happened 10-11v didn't come back up! high speed turned off and back to 12-13v.
what could be causing the large draw causing the alt. not to bring it back up?
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
From: Orlando, Fl
ok got an update.
after completely re-running the exciter wire from the pcm to the alt. the voltage still dropped down to 11v with the a/c on. At which point i realized i actually haven't probed(watched) the voltage at the battery while engaging the a/c to monitor the volt. drop.
so while sitting in the car. i hooked up my volt meter to the cig. lighter socket and engaged the a/c. the voltage dropped from 14.4 to 13.9 and stayed there. i looked at the dash and it was reading 11v(just above the red).
so I'm thinking i really didn't an alt. problem just a broken gauge. what could be causing the dash gauge to drop down and not read correctly? when i first start the car it reads 14ish like it should. but once the a/c is on(or high speed fans) the gauge reads lower than what it really is?
after completely re-running the exciter wire from the pcm to the alt. the voltage still dropped down to 11v with the a/c on. At which point i realized i actually haven't probed(watched) the voltage at the battery while engaging the a/c to monitor the volt. drop.
so while sitting in the car. i hooked up my volt meter to the cig. lighter socket and engaged the a/c. the voltage dropped from 14.4 to 13.9 and stayed there. i looked at the dash and it was reading 11v(just above the red).
so I'm thinking i really didn't an alt. problem just a broken gauge. what could be causing the dash gauge to drop down and not read correctly? when i first start the car it reads 14ish like it should. but once the a/c is on(or high speed fans) the gauge reads lower than what it really is?
