Aaarghh... 12.6 volts!

[Wagon Daddy]

I did a major tune up to my car about a week ago. Timing belt, water pump, all of the engine seals, new oil pan gasket, valve adjustment/new gasket, etc. etc. Everything went well, but I did notice that the harness going to the alternator seemed to have a very brittle casing. 15 year old car, plastic, heat, not a good combination.

On the way home from my buddies shop, my car went dead. The lights went dim and the juice was not flowing. I looked at the battery and it was pretty well beat up, so I ran and got a cheap battery from Walmart and away I went. A couple of days later, my car was dead again. Obviously, I was not charging well. I found only 11.3 volts with the car on at idle. I could hear bad bearings in the alternator, so I figured that wasn't too tricky to figure the alternator was on its way out.

I just pulled the alternator and replaced it with a 160 amp ebay alternator and thought, aha, now all will be well. Wrong! I am only getting 12.6 with the engine on. I am pretty sure I should be reading 14.6 obviously...

Any ideas? Does the car have an external regulator from the alternator? WTF?!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-c

[2.2litrebeater]

maybe poor grounding between the engine and chassis, i hear a poor ground on the thermostat causes all sorts of weird stuff

[T3aM 83rD]

I am faced with a similar problem, can anyone give us a heads-up for which grounds to check.

[bruno8747]

The main ground for the car is from the transmission to the battery, and from the battery to the frame. The transmission ground should be checked to see if its corroded or if its broken. Its fairly easy to replace.

[PR CB7]

why bother with ebay alternators, when autozone or advance selll em for less if u bring them urs,

any way check ur grounds like everyone said, and also make ur own ground kit to make a better ground, but also check everything powerwise

[Otto]

Yes...there is an external regulator. Its called the Electric Load Detector (ELD) and its part of the fuse box in the engine bay. If you open the fuse box, you'll see a connector with three small wires on top, and that's the ELD.
Its suppose to reduce engine load when the engine is idling and the alternator has a low load on it. Once you hit the gas or start running electric stuff, the voltage will come back up.

[Wagon Daddy]

Seems better...

... after I drove it a bit. I put a better ground kit on it earlier today and while the voltage is still only at 14.2, it is enough to maintain.

Thanks for the tip everyone!

-c

[Abeerdrinker]

14.4 or close is fine. how well is your battery holding its load?

[T3aM 83rD]

do you have a system pulling juice? if you do, what are the readings (volts) when your bass is kicking and the car is idleing?