charging system problem...totally stumped

[pwmin]

ANYONE?

another update: had the original alt. bench-tested and they said it was good, so i put it back in (got it down to 1/2-hour now by doing the belt from the bottom ). anyway, put it in and same thing: will charge for a while, then will drop down and only charge when you give it some gas. so, i pulled the wire i added running from the alt to the charging post and when it was acting up, there was only 13V at the alt., HOWEVER, the two wires that are at the connector were reading around 12V (12.1 and 12.4). that means that the alt is getting the proper signal, right? when i put the other wire back on, the reading didnt change. btw, check gauges light still is on, but goes off and comes back on randomly.

please, any input would be very helpful. i'm about the kick the shit out of this car, lol.

[pwmin]

New Update

new update: yesterday, car started doing the same thing and the fuse WAS NOT BLOWN. I checked out the schematics and that fuse is tied to a bunch of stuff, one being the ac compressor. i checked that out cuz the connector was always broken on the compressor side and sure enough, the one prong had broken off the compressor inside the connector and was dangling, probably causing a short. however, after fixing that, it is still acting funny.

the check gauges light will come on randomly with no change in how it charges. however, its charging weird, too. off idle, it will charge a little over 14V and then when you stop, it will go down to 13V or less. any ideas on what may be causing that? also, i started getting alternator noise last night.


anyone? i'm thinking this reman alt. i have is just bad.

[pwmin]

blown ignition fuse

must have just cracked and could still make contact sometimes...weird, huh? i just hope there isnt a short somewhere blowing the fuse. i'm driving it around a little around town before i take it commuting again to make sure its ok.

btw, i used a started from a 3x00 (01 Impy 3400) and it sounds so cool for some reason....guess i'm a nerd, lol. was smaller and lighter than the 3.4 starter. i was going use the 3.4 anyway, but the old starter had 9 teeth and the newer 3.4 one had 12 (3x00 had 9)

[pwmin]

One thing I know is that the way a 96 alternator is wired vs. a 91 alternator is entirely different. What year alternator are you using now? And what year wiring are you using?

the one that was in there was a 96 and the one thats in there now is a 96. its the 91 wiring w/ the 96 connector and pigtail spliced in. i'm thinking its a connection from where it was spliced. i dont think i looked at the splices but i did look at the others and they were just twisted and taped and fixed the ones i found. thats the problem getting a car someone else has modified. if i keep the car (may have to sell it) i'm def doing an obd2 swap as soon as i can. i've been running this car w/ the alternator and stuff as-is with no problem for almost a year and all of the sudden this stuff starts happening. therefore, i dont think it's wired wrong, but i def think theres a good possibility one of the splices is bad.

Thanks. I was looking for a way of fortifying the Charging system...I'm running the a new atlernator with the newer pressed in diodes but I still dont trust it.... You figure if I go bigger on the gauge from the alt to the starter you think that would make things better? Running a CS-130 '92

no prob. should def help.

[gpse3400]

Thanks. I was looking for a way of fortifying the Charging system...I'm running the a new atlernator with the newer pressed in diodes but I still dont trust it.... You figure if I go bigger on the gauge from the alt to the starter you think that would make things better? Running a CS-130 '92

[OldSkoolGP]

One thing I know is that the way a 96 alternator is wired vs. a 91 alternator is entirely different. What year alternator are you using now? And what year wiring are you using?

[pwmin]

i ran 4 gauge stereo wire for the following:

-both battery cables (all of the wires arent necessary, i just did them all - 2 wires for each cable)
-ground from engine block to battery tray
-added 4ga wire w/ 125A fuse from alternator to charging post (kept little wire that goes from the starter to the alternator.

commonly known as "big3" or "big 5", etc.

[gpse3400]

Upgrade the main wire? Could you tell me more about this?

[pwmin]

PLEASE READ POST 19 IF NOTHING ELSE)

so, on sunday night, my GP quit charging. It would start charging again randomly and would sometimes way overcharge. I replaced the alternator and ran the car for at least an hour and it was still charging good. Then, this morning, I start it up and it's not charging...same thing. Does that sound like an ECM problem or does it have something to do w/ having a 96 engine and alt in a 91 or is there something else? I'm also running an Optima yellow top, all of which was done a long time before i experienced any weird problems. it has no inner fender splash guard to keep shit off of it, fwiw. Does anyone know what the internal differences are between the old style and new style alternators? I know the external differences.

i did recently upgrade all the wiring and added a 4ga wire from the alt to the charging post., so i doubt its that, but it could be. i'm going to recheck all of that.

the starter is going bad, too, but i doubt that has anything to do with it. as far as the starter goes, i can get one from say an 01 Impala 3.4 and it will work, right?

edit:
i'm thinking its probably a problem with the splice when the p/o (before luke) wired in the 96 engine.

and, nevermind on the starter....newer dohc's got their own revised started (mine still has the old style)