Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

[youngsc]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

First guess regulator
Second guess and almost too obvious if it were off is the belt. If your getting power under engine load but the second you take away that engine load or need amps it drops might suggest that the belt is tensioned incorrectly. Just my .02

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

update:

i sucked it up and got a new bat and a "remanufactured" stock replacement alternator.

the results:

the car does not act gay when i stop moving like it did before. (it probably was the regulator that was ****ed on the last one)

it does hold good charge, however the overall PROBLEM still is not fixed, meaning the original goal of getting a new alternator has not been reached yet.

my volts still drop when i have my system on, my rad. fan on, or my headlights on (any combination of the 2 will do it.) the volts will go down to about 9 volts, tho a bit slower than before i must admit.

so now this leaves me asking if i should try to return the high output alternator i bought and get the same one and give it a shot (without ****ing it up this time)

that, or like someone else said, I may have a short somewhere in my electrical system (sound system maybe?)

any thoughts would be appreciated.

let me just say i am VERY happy that my car is at least runnin ok now and has a new bat. and alt. to boot! and that i didn't fry my whole system. =)

[Smoke Panther]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

that, or like someone else said, I may have a short somewhere in my electrical system (sound system maybe?)

that's unlikely, considering everything's working ok now. Install the high output again properly, this time

[Archer]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

you have a system, Is everything bonded correctly? (Grounded) clean your chasis grounding points, check your fuses, also, try getting a bigger battery. Im not a system kind of guy, but have built a few in my younger days.. lol

the best system runs off an aux. battery. but thats my own opinion. Check your grounding points. Its not a motorcycle, but when people sport out their bikes with lights, leds, neons, they never stop to think a bout a better ground, once grounding was fixed, their lights never flickered again..

Its an option.
Archer

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

you have a system, Is everything bonded correctly? (Grounded) clean your chasis grounding points, check your fuses, also, try getting a bigger battery. Im not a system kind of guy, but have built a few in my younger days.. lol

the best system runs off an aux. battery. but thats my own opinion. Check your grounding points. Its not a motorcycle, but when people sport out their bikes with lights, leds, neons, they never stop to think a bout a better ground, once grounding was fixed, their lights never flickered again..

Its an option.
Archer

thanks smoke, archer, for the latest advice.

i will check the ground for my system (it's located by the spare tire) and make sure its a good contact etc. I'm gonna try to get that high output alternator swapped out for another one and as smokey said, do it right this time. :spank:

thanks guys, i'll keep ya posted.

max

[Rob Bell]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

I think it's the regulator. When I had another car where the regulator went out, the voltage would vary with the speed of the alternator though. I don't think it ever dropped to that low of a voltage. But when I would hit the gas, the voltage meter would vary with RPM up to 18 volts. It quickly fried my battery, you could hear it sizzling.

But anyway, just say it's a bad alternator, return it and get a new HO one. You can never have too much power.

[dobie]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

You might want to try getting an overdrive pulley for the alternator. It will make it spin faster at idle which will generate more power to run your accessories.

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

i told the guy its broken, but he thinks its "belt slippage" or as he also said "a bad pully ratio"

either way, i'm gonna send it to him, hopefully he can run a test and figure out it's prlly the regulator and then either fix that or send me a new one.

anyone know what a bad pully ratio is?

[landj]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

When I don't understand something I just think it's BS, but he could be thinking that the pulley is bigger than it should be, could try a smaller pulley... but I just don't like that idea. Seems like that's a patch to a problem somewhere else. Is the pulley the same size as the other alternator?

Do you have a smaller "underdrive" drive pulley on your crankshaft?

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

When I don't understand something I just think it's BS, but he could be thinking that the pulley is bigger than it should be, could try a smaller pulley... but I just don't like that idea. Seems like that's a patch to a problem somewhere else. Is the pulley the same size as the other alternator?

Do you have a smaller "underdrive" drive pulley on your crankshaft?

yes i do have a smaller underdrive pully on my crankshaft, how does that affect anything?

and i didn't compare the 2 but the alternator pulleys appeared to be the same size.

thanks for helpin me figure this out.

max

[landj]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Well, if you have a smaller pulley on your crank, it will cause the alternator to rotate more slowly, slower alternator, lower voltage, so the theory goes. It also *could* cause slippage because the stock belt length may be a little looser, if you have slippage, you would *probably* hear it squeal (God knows I heard mine when the pulleys were out of alignment).

Are all the other pulleys the same size as stock? If so are you using a slightly smaller belt?

Either way, if it's not too difficult, can you just swap the original size crankshaft pulley back on for a test?

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Well, if you have a smaller pulley on your crank, it will cause the alternator to rotate more slowly, slower alternator, lower voltage, so the theory goes. It also *could* cause slippage because the stock belt length may be a little looser, if you have slippage, you would *probably* hear it squeal (God knows I heard mine when the pulleys were out of alignment).

Are all the other pulleys the same size as stock? If so are you using a slightly smaller belt?

Either way, if it's not too difficult, can you just swap the original size crankshaft pulley back on for a test?

when i replaced the crankshaft pulley with the new one i installed a smaller belt. I no longer have the stock crankshaft pulley and i wouldn't want to try it out anyhow. the belt is on very tight believe me.

[youngsc]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Make sure it's not on too tight you do need to have a certain amount of deflection on the belt.

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Make sure it's not on too tight you do need to have a certain amount of deflection on the belt.

ok, but i'm using the same belt on my stock alternator and that thing doesn't give me problems like 8 volts as soon as i let off the gas.

i'm gonna do these things cuz i'm sick of dealing with this problem:

1. upgrade my big 3 to 1 gauge wire (i already have 4gauge but apparently it doesn't help)
2. disconnect my sound system from the battery and see if that helps (if it does i will know i have a short in that wire because it is shoddily run through the door to the engine bay)
3. try to get another high amp alternator (160) and this time don't cook the **** out of it.

if none of this helps i'm gonna jump off a cliff.

[youngsc]

Re: Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Option 4 is always the easiest. That does have a few downsides too.