rant, factory grounds`

[accordztech]

so my vans alternator went to shit. my battery light came on which was a great thing and found its not charging and running at like 11 volts.

i did a few test to make sure it was the alternator and got another one.

put the new one on and decided to run a extra ground wire to upgrade the 10 guage ground they had going from the alternator to the body. put it in, and it ran charged at 13.3 which was what my old one did when it was good.

but i was like humm....it should be higher cause with everything on to create a load it was around 11.5 and its a new alternator

so i inspected the factory grounds from the battery to find that ITS PAInT UNDER THE GROUNDS!!!. argh...i mean a 99 mercury villager isnt much but a newer car with paint for a ground?

i take off the ground and sand it down with my dremel, and then found every ground in the engine bay which was like 3 and cleaned and sanded everyone of them.

started it up and bam 14 volts. hella ***...just had to rant but IMO even if your charging system is correct its always good to have a good contact for the ground, which means sanding and cleaning. all worth it in the end for me...pathetic. hehe

on load it stays up there in the 13 range with my 125 amp alternator. but when my 2 10's hit with my 1200 rms amp (yes it dei and thats a true number) lol the voltage goes down to 12 lol

sorrie just had to say.

[Losiracer2]

so you didn't need an alt. afterall?

[accordztech]

oh it did, that alternator took a crap after like 9 years....but i always wonderd even with the old one why it was around 13.3 volts....

but since now its at 14.0 im happy...and new alternator.

[Law Grandeur]

at least your car tells you things. my battery light NEVER turned on once and i went through a bunch of them and 2 altys. my car doesnt tell me if im low on oil or if i need maintenance or anything. abs light turns on like once in a blue moon for no damn reason.

[JohnD1079]

Umm, there should be paint over the ground. Otherwise over time the connection rusts. The contact patch should be clean, but everything else should be painted.