Low voltage problem, not battery or alternator

[PiLOTLiTE]

After I did my engine swap, I noticed my battery gauge was reading lower than it was with the old motor. Before it used to sit between 1-2.5 needle widths past the middle "13" mark. Now it sits right on the "13" mark, maybe half a needle width above or below. It also seems that when the car is real hot, it will read lower and when it's cold, it will read higher. My battery is an Optima red top less than 2 months old and the alternator has less than 2k on it, so I know these aren't the problem. I've checked all the engine and harness grounds and they are secure and fine.

My only thought was the voltage requirement between the 98 and 2001 motors was different, so my regulator would be off, but somehow I doubt it. Any ideas?

[ June 09, 2003: Message edited by: PiLOTLiTE ]</p>

[Seppo Kaitainen]

Maybe not 100% related, but my 01 TA voltage varies a lot more than my 99.

[Gixer]

If you kick your radio on, your ac, your lights, everything that you can, does it go even further down? And if so, does it KEEP going down? If you REALLY wanna be sure of what's going on, put a voltmeter on the battery when you do all this, as long as you got 13v at the battery, all is good [img]smile.gif[/img]

Personally I have had bad experiences with Optima batteries, especially with my 'high' power amps. I almost melted one down in my 85 camaro ( and I had a 100amp alternator in that one). But I HAVE heard a lot of praise for this series of battery.... but I'll never use one again.

-Gixer