Question: i recently replaced my ALT and BATT. Measured voltage output from pos. term of ALT to NEG term off BATT: 11.36/38 this is bad right? it shoudl be about 14 or so, if im not mistaken.

Also measured teh neg to pos term of bat: 12.87

this was with the car at idle after running it for about 3-5 minutes. but had to shut car off to opne hatch, than restarted the car. does this make a differeance?

since this is a brand new alternator what is the issue?

-Bad Ground?

-Bad Positive connection?

-is it possible i somehow polorized the alternator with all those wires floating around. (i did connect/install it with no battery in the car, but after battery install i might have touched somethign as the sheilding on the neg wire is bad. (since fixed)

Did you touch your voltage regulator? It could be out of adjustment or just plain bad. If your battery goes dead, I would lean toward a bad regulator. The FSM & Haynes manual have instructions on adjusting the regulator.

where IS teh regulator? i think the only thing that couldve happened is my negative wire touching the lead post on the alternator for a sec. or two. the person (girlfriend) helping me said i might have.

EDIT: the battery went dead cause my alternator went bad, and died while i was driving on the highway.

so does this mean since my charging system is at 11 volts, that my batery IS being charged but only at 11 volts? if so, can i continue to run the car off of that with out fear of my bat/car dieing whilst driving?

Actually with the reading at 11 volts, you're draining the battery. It wouldn't surprise me for you to have a dead regulator, especially since you say you've had charging problems. I can't recall where the regulator was relocated for the 280Z, but I'm pretty sure it's not where the regulator is in a 240Z. It might be located near the battery. (The FSM is your friend in cases like this.) I do know that the 75 has a round plug for the regulator.

no i did not touch the regulator. is it under the fuseable links?

Found and replaced Voltage Regulator.

nothing has improved. still getting just over 12v at the ALT. and car dies about 45 seconds or so aftyer starting. :devious:

this is pissing me off...what the hell is wrong with this thing, and if i find the guy who stole my 40 dollar stereo i do belive ill feed him to the pigs