New development?
10-10-2006, 06:54 AM
#1
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New development?
Ok, so yesterday i come out to my car and the battery is just dead enough to give me one turn over then clickity clickity. Great. I have no cables (lent them to a friend) and no one home to jump me anyway. So i dont drive the car, clearly.
Today i aquire some cables and head out to jump her...kicks right over, as usual when its cold. But something new i noticed. My voltage meter is reading under 12. Now, i know i have a slightly loose alt belt, and it squeals when its wet out (like today) but catches fine after warm up.....however, i noticed that my voltmeter was going down to about 11 at and idle...and would USUALLY go up again when driving, but even sometimes then, stay around 11-12. Id look at it once....it was at 11....then 30 seconds later...it would be up by 16 again. Come to think about it....is 16 even normal?
Could my alt possibly be the cause of my no-start when warm issue? Maybe the belt is just that bad? PO said its a new alt, but who knows.
Today i aquire some cables and head out to jump her...kicks right over, as usual when its cold. But something new i noticed. My voltage meter is reading under 12. Now, i know i have a slightly loose alt belt, and it squeals when its wet out (like today) but catches fine after warm up.....however, i noticed that my voltmeter was going down to about 11 at and idle...and would USUALLY go up again when driving, but even sometimes then, stay around 11-12. Id look at it once....it was at 11....then 30 seconds later...it would be up by 16 again. Come to think about it....is 16 even normal?
Could my alt possibly be the cause of my no-start when warm issue? Maybe the belt is just that bad? PO said its a new alt, but who knows.
10-10-2006, 08:19 AM
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Check the voltage right at the battery before spending money. The gauge could be inaccurate...
My battery runs a little over 14V with the engine running, but the gauge always shows about 13, so it's not very accurate.
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10-10-2006, 08:39 AM
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Yep, just pop the hood and apply your trusty voltmeter to the terminals....
You also may want to measure the voltage between the positive terminal and a good chassis ground. If it is significantly different than the voltage straight between battery terminals it would indicate you have a ground problem.