where does your Volt meter sit??

[LordoftheBling]

how about everyone with a 3.8 chime in on this..

where does your volt meter sit when the engine is cold? warm ? and then when the engine is hot and you are sitting in traffic with the AC on.

i think my alternator is about ready to take a ****.. stocker with almost 50K on it

as for mine.. when its cold its to the right of 13 which is in the middle. when it warms up it goes a tad below 13 and then when its hot and in traffic i get almost in the red part of the gauge.

battery is a red top optima so its not the battery

[tWiStEdBird]

14, pretty constant reguardless. Never below 13.

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

yup stay at 14 unless i just push in the clutch and it will dip to the red but it come right back up lol

[Tyler]

min is about 14.5ish. thats when i have the manual fan switch on high(both fans), sitting in traffic, with the ac on and also the 1800 watt system blaring. I'm on stock batter that has already leaked batter acid (refilled with distilled water) and stock alternator. just rolled to 70k miles

[terminaldegree]

Cold - 14.5
Warm - 13.5

lowest I have seen at idle [with lots of electricals running] was around 13. Once in a blue moon, when I push in the clutch, it will drop below 13 for a fraction of a second.

Buy a cheap multimeter and test it with the car off, on, and revved up a bit.

[majeskyb]

Mostly in the 14-14.5 range, but occasionally will hit the middle line. Usually never moves, even with a full load

[Blackbird3800]

Hey Bling, mine does that too, and all the time. Im at 102,000 miles and with the stock alt. I took the alt and bat in for tests and both are perfect. For some reason it just does how you describe and ive never had a prob and all the tests were over 20,000 miles ago. You should get it tested if you want to be safe.

Jon

[Ian]

Whatever the line is 3/4 of the way to the top, thats where mine sits.

[Antman]

Mine's been jumping about a bit lately.
I had a guess that it might be getting ready to pop - so I bought one on ebay.
Or at least I thought I did.
Auction for alternator described as being from a 3.8 Camaro.
Me being me, didn't think to actually go outside and LOOK at the alternator - just to make sure it was the same (all 3.8 alternators should be the same right?)
Thing turns up after like 6 weeks (slow boat across the Atlantic)
I go to fit it and realise that it's not the right part.
Checked against my mate's 3.4 - and it matches.

So I e-mail the seller who comes back to say, 'Yep, definitely a 3.8 - we still have the car with it's engine)
I was half tempted to ask him to send me a picture of the engine just to confirm.

Anyway, my mate now has a spare alternator.
Mine's hangin' on in there

[LordoftheBling]

thanks for the responses. guess i will have to test at orielly's

[Rob Bell]

Mine usually starts off at the 3/4 line, then after a while it's about midway between 1/2 and 3/4. But I've always noticed that the headlights have a slight flicker, and sometimes when I hit the brakes the the needle dips to 1/2 for a split second, then comes back up. Of course when it does this the lights dim, and the blower slows down for a second. But then it comes right back to normal. I had it checked at the dealer, and of course since it's still under warranty they said everything's fine. I guess that's just the way these cars are

[viper98885]

Mine jumps all over the place because of the huge cam that I have with the choppy idle. It sucks at night because the lights dim so much

[BLLDOGG]

mine sits at about 10 but it might be an old battery or alternator problem

[RancidCamaro]

I recently had my alternator replaced. It was right about yours, if it's cold just above 13. If it was warmed up and sitting in traffic, almost in the red.

The diagnosis was a bad diode in the alternator. I replaced the alternator and now it sits at about 15 when it's cold, and 14 when it's warm.

['98 BlackBird]

Originally posted by Ian:
Whatever the line is 3/4 of the way to the top, thats where mine sits.