LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

Car won't hold an idle could it be the battery?

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Old 03-31-2009, 01:29 PM
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Default Car won't hold an idle could it be the battery?

I don't drive my car often, and i have an alarm. So the battery is draining a lot. I have a battery charger so i just up it with the charger and drive it where i want to go, when i get there it starts fine and holds charge for a few days. Yesterday i jumped it and it wouldn't hold an idle, it would go down to like 400 rpm and die. I have a Uni from datamaster if you want to check it out. The voltage never goes over 12.6 and when the rpm's drop the voltage goes down to 10.3.

It was running fine before now it is acting up. Something i realized is that i ran it for about a minute at 200amps on the charger. If i fried something it would stop at the alternator right? Could this jack up the battery?
Old 03-31-2009, 02:41 PM
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If the voltage never goes over 12.6 at any RPM, the alternator is not working. After the battery dies, power is lost to the computer and volatile memory is lost. It is somewhat normal for idle to be affected until it relearns a little bit, but it is not going to run right with only 10.3v.
Old 03-31-2009, 03:08 PM
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Originally Posted by shbox
If the voltage never goes over 12.6 at any RPM, the alternator is not working. After the battery dies, power is lost to the computer and volatile memory is lost. It is somewhat normal for idle to be affected until it relearns a little bit, but it is not going to run right with only 10.3v.
what the heck are you doing over here? Anyway, thank you i will look into the alternator and battery.
Old 03-31-2009, 03:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Critt3r
what the heck are you doing over here? Anyway, thank you i will look into the alternator and battery.
I've been here for more posts than you.
Old 04-01-2009, 07:00 PM
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i pulled the battery and had it tested at autozone as well as shucks, tested good, but low charge. I also took off the alt. and had it tested at both, tested good. I then charged the battery to 13.2 and put everything back on the car. Tried to start it and same thing. Any idea's where to go with this? datamaster didn't throw any red flags up to me, but i'm new to datamaster so it could be my untrained eye.
Old 04-01-2009, 07:09 PM
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Are all of your connections/cables good? If both battery and alt tested good I'd look at the wires to and from.
Old 04-02-2009, 09:17 PM
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problem solved, thanks for the input.



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