battery issue?? alternator??

[akcamaro02]

Whenever I shift into reverse, my battery voltage will go from 14-15 to 8-9 and the car will basically surge. Also, every now and then when I'm sitting at a light, idling, the car's battary will do the same thing?? Any advice?? is it the alternator, bad battary connection? transmission issue?

[StrtRacer98]

Re: battery issue?? alternator??

You can single out any question for the battery and alternator pretty quickly, Take it to autozone, or wal-mart auto center... Probably other places as well and they will test your alternator and battery on your car while it's running.

That way, theres no guessing between the two.

[akcamaro02]

Re: battery issue?? alternator??

I did, they said the battary and the alternator are fine.

[ssms5411]

Re: battery issue?? alternator??

Sounds like a ground issue, check the connections to make sure their tight. You could also upgrade to bigger wires, like doing the big 3 wire upgrade. It will help with voltage issues dropping.

[96firebird311]

Re: battery issue?? alternator??

I had extremely similar problems in the weeks before my car nearly caught on fire driving down the highway. Enough smoke to fill the cabin coming from the dash. Seeing the smoke I immediately pull over. Just about to get out of the car for my own safety and the smoke stops. Car won't start. No electrical anything.

After the tow truck drops the car at the house, tell the wife the story, eat dinner, I decide to open up the dash. Hoping I see something. Boom. Right away. There was several wires crimped together with butt connectors that are going to an alarm I had installed a couple years back.

The left end had completely burnt up until it separated from the other side of the wire. The red wire in the middle and on the right side were clipped out by me upon discovery. Those are two yellow (at one time) butt connectors on each end. After finding the hack job that had been done on my car, I ripped everything out. Any connections that were needed were soldered in place. Give the ignition a go.... boom. Fires right up. Looks like the voltage gauge is a little higher than it ever has been. Never once had the strange voltage dropping issue again.

Problem was so bad before, I lost power steering 3 or 4 times through those weeks. Usually only happened when sitting at a stop light or put the car in reverse. Usually lasted 3 or 4 seconds, and then it would bounce back up to 14V. This story may not help you what-so-ever, but I just found it funny you described the EXACT same symptoms I had. I would take a look at any/all aftermarket wiring you have in the car.

[vr4gasm]

Re: battery issue?? alternator??

i upgraded my wire from the alt. to the positive terminal on the battery and it honestly did make a difference.. i got it from ZZP i stopped dropping voltage..

[akcamaro02]

Re: battery issue?? alternator??

ok well my car still has this problem and when i first start my car up in the morning, the voltage is at the 3/4 mark, if you know what i'm talking about on the guage, which is pretty high for what it usually is, but when it's in reverse, sometimes idling at a light, i've even had a couple times where i was going like 2 mph but making a sharp turn and turned the wheel to the point where it couldn't go anymore and after i hit that point the voltage dropped. the car is 100 percent stock so idk what could be causing this

[96firebird311]

Re: battery issue?? alternator??

EVERY single symptom you describe, I remember my car doing the exact same thing.

[Rob Bell]

Re: battery issue?? alternator??

I would also check the grounds. Take the wires off and clean the connectors, too. The cars nowadays have so many electronics that a bad ground (that might not even look bad) can cause all kinds of problems. Our cars also do have an inherent tendency toward low voltage. Mine has dipped sometimes when I hit the brakes, especially in the winter when lots of accessories are running. Look under your hood and you can see lots of grounding points. Check around under the dash too, like 96firebird suggests, just to make sure there isn't something amiss under there. Even if it's stock, something could be loose or corroded.