Figured a little more about my electrical problem still need help though

[articacid]

ok so today i busted out the multimeter. i was talking to my brother and he said try disconnecting the - on the bat and using the + on the meter on a chassis ground, then use the - on the bat terminal. i am getting a voltage reading. it started at around 10v and then slowly went to 11.9(i stopped after that). the battery was at 12.8 and by time i was done it was at 12.2. i disconncected all of my stereo stuff and lighting while i did this.

so obviously i have a short somewhere on the stock harness. i dont understand when the voltage would start out low and then slowly go up any ideas? i also dont get why it wouldnt just match the voltage of the battery. anyone have a good idea of where to start looking or a good way to find a short?

[articacid]

does anyone know if using a test light and checking the fuse box would help?

also could the voltage regulator be the problem? where is it located? is this a common problem? any ideas?

[ December 14, 2005, 03:08 PM: Message edited by: articacid ]

[Javelin3o4]

i had a wiring short on my firebird causing the batt to drain, i disconnected the - cable hooked the wire to the cable from the test light and had someone old the probe of the test light to the neg post and it lit up. I then pulled 1 fuse at a time until it went off to narrow down what circuit it was. For me it was the accy circuit. Turned out to be a problem with the door lock relay

[articacid]

when i tested it i thought i had everything off, but i forgot about one thing, the alarm. which explains the voltage slowly increasing and never reaching the full 12v.

its beginning to look like theres a very good chance its the alt. maybe it wasnt discharging, it might just not have been charging very much at all.

its still putting out voltage but in a very goofy way. it actually was howling the other day when i started it up. i ordered a 180 amp alt from 4alterstart.com should be here friday and hopefully it will solve my problem.