car won't start

[jszarecki]

ok, replaced batt/alt/voltage regulator. car will start, but will die after 2 minutes after watching voltage at alt or bat drop from 12.6 to under 10.

so whats causing the low readings from the alt or batt?

[jszarecki]

no one has an answer?

[seerex]

Hey, check your cables very closely make sure all of them are not broken within the end pieces , or also make sure you don't have a build up of corrosion. Sounds like your alternator isn't geting the charge back to the batter and to the car , the car should run < without lights and accessories on > with out a batery in the car the alternator should be able to keep it running, unless you have huge draw from somewhere , I think its Alternator <but its new , recheck > or the cables to it or from it.

[jszarecki]

alt is brand new... bat cabels are brand new

the cables TO teh ALT are NOT new...no corrosion though. i suppose i coudl unwrap them and replace all of them..... i didi a voltage test...there is no drops in volts from either fuseable link (12.67 everywhere)

i have nothign plugges in except ignition switch and the colorfull plugs on teh passenger side. (ie: the gas (which never worked) hazzard and defront(also neverworked) are not plugged in. (this indicator and swittches)

[jszarecki]

i tested teh ALT plug section by adding a jumper wire from there to the positive terminal on teh battery. read between 14.5 and 15.3 so the ALT is good.

so...i'm suposing ill need to replace the wires between the old plug from teh ALT and to the VR, where they go to. possibly the whole plug between teh VR and the harnes is bad?

[sblake01]

Well something is wrong if the alt/reg are producing the proper current but it's not getting to the battery. There are no magic answers to this. Check all connections for corrosion and use a volt/ohmeter to look for shorts, continuity etc. Sounds like you're on the right track as you have eliminated the alternator and regulator as possible causes.

[BuDavid]

this could be related to heat or friction during running the cas as I asume (since u have new ALT and cables WITH A GOOD BATTERY FOR SURE)

did u check the ALT belt tension? weather it has no slipping? it might start to slip after warming up somehow or from biginning so u notice the voltage dropping in the gauge after then..

[EScanlon]

From your first post, the battery is brand new.

Was it charged before you installed it in the car, or are you expecting the new VR/ALT combo to do that?

The Alternator in your car will slowly re-charge your battery, but it isn't designed to CHARGE your battery. The difference is that the battery must originally receive it's charge from outside your engine compartment. That's why you get told that when your battery dies and you can't start your car, that it's ok to get jump started for a short drive to a repair station where you should have the battery re-charged.

Next item: the items you replaced, were they replaced with ~EQUAL ITEMS~ or ? This isn't an insult, but oftentimes the car part shop will say something along the lines of "Well, the one you need is out of stock, but this one should work." This sadly ends up with hours of painful troubleshooting that disappears when correct items are replaced.

Case in point: Did you replace the Alternator with the proper Internal/External regulator? What would the addition of an external VR to an internally regulated Alternator do?

Are all items that should be grounded.....grounded properly? Just cause it's stuck on the firewall with screws does NOT mean that proper contact is being made.

You mention that some of the circuits are not plugged in, just how much of the wiring is NOT plugged in? Could you be missing a critical connection that is causing the problem? Could you have cross-connected something?

These are just a few suggestions of items to check.

E

[jszarecki]

the wires that are not connected are as follows:

hazzard switch

defrost switch

fuel light

defrost light

there are a bunch of other wires that dont seem to have a home. so im not sure what to do with them...

as for teh car not starting

it starts now, but i kinda had to bypass the VRegulator by running a jumper wire to the + post on the battery. I currently havea 16 gage wire there, but will either replace with a 12 or 10 gage depending on what voltage i get over teh wire after testing, or i might install a capacitor in line somewhere....

the reason i did this is because after using a line splice to teh new VR wire pre-plug i didnt get any responce... im gonna try and get teh VR tested, but i called kragen and they cant test it and thats where i got it. im gonna go ask auto zone, since i kno wthey can.... somehow maybe all the jumping in the past week has fried it.

i guess my questions is...whats the max voltage i can send to the battery? before its too much. also does anyoen know how to test amperage from a voltage tester? all the settings i put it on read OL except for DC volt settings

[KDMatt]

... Out of curiosity, did bypassing the voltage regulator solve your problem?

[jszarecki]

if by bypassing, you mean: hooking a wire from the ALT to teh + BATT terminal...than yes. however, teh VR is new, will have it tested later this week.

can i run the car this way? the batt is receiving from 13.5 to high 16's... im putting a 10 gage wire on there

[KDMatt]

Is it possible that you've got the wrong alt. or v.r.? I would think that if an alt that was already internally regulated was run through yet another regulator there'd run the risk of some kind of loss there... eh?