Electrical Problem

[Bobby322 10+ year member]

Ok so long story short...

its a 1973 Plymouth duster. Just got a new WORKING battery and alternator. Tested the old ones and they were bad. Before I had a new battery and alt, my car would always die even if I didnt have any part of my system on...just regular driving no lights or anything on. Now, I just put on the new alt and it is doing the same crap. When I turn on my turn siginal, it takes like 10 seconds for it to show up flashing on my dash and it is all slow and dim. Im sure if I turn the headlights on my car will just up and die.

No idea what the problem is....my car is dying all the time without my system even on.

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[funkyab 10+ year member]

obviously something is wrong with the new alt. It happens. Take the new alt to autozone and have them test it.

 

[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

it may be wires being corroded as they are probably old as hell

 

[tsupra98 10+ year member]

Ok so long story short...
its a 1973 Plymouth duster. Just got a new WORKING battery and alternator. Tested the old ones and they were bad. Before I had a new battery and alt, my car would always die even if I didnt have any part of my system on...just regular driving no lights or anything on. Now, I just put on the new alt and it is doing the same crap. When I turn on my turn siginal, it takes like 10 seconds for it to show up flashing on my dash and it is all slow and dim. Im sure if I turn the headlights on my car will just up and die.

No idea what the problem is....my car is dying all the time without my system even on.

when you have your car started test your batt with a dmm and tell us what it reads. it does sound like its a bad alt again but the wire thing is also a good idea. on my old accord i had my alt go out on me and it did the same thing exept for the delay on the blinker. and i wasn't charging at idle cuz i had a bad alt to batt wire. one i put 4g there it solved the whole charging problem.

 

[audioatg 10+ year member]

How do you know that its the alt when your car dies? Have you taken a DMM and put it on the battery or alternator and watched the voltage as your car is dieing. Does it actually go below 10 or so volts.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

internal or external regulated alt? if external, then replace the voltage regulator after testing the alt is ok.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

INSTALLATION ALERT! Charging system susceptible to loose or corroded connections at voltage regulator, ammeter, and harness connection at firewall. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[LOW ET 10+ year member]

take the positive battery cable off the battery while the car is running, if the car keeps running the alternator is good, if the car dies the alternator is bad.

 

[audioatg 10+ year member]

take the positive battery cable off the battery while the car is running, if the car keeps running the alternator is good, if the car dies the alternator is bad.

O gezzzz. What year is it again. I like you to take this statment of yours to every auto mechanic that is in your area an ask if this will prove anything.

 

[LOW ET 10+ year member]

O gezzzz. What year is it again. I like you to take this statment of yours to every auto mechanic that is in your area an ask if this will prove anything.

it works on old and new cars!

let me add something to my previous statement, that method will work assuming everything else is good (wiring)

 

[audioatg 10+ year member]

it works on old and new cars!

Very old cars. Yes. But not todays cars. You are proving nothing when doing that. Plus he has a stall problem that might have nothin to do with eletrical parts of his vehicle. We need him to determine if the voltage is actually going down when he says it is.

Here same thing I said in another thread that some guy was telling to do this.

"Is it 2008 going on 2009.

Only thing you are really proving is that the battery can not keep up with the demands(voltage ,amperage) of the vehicles system. Not that the alternator is bad. Good charged battery or poor charged battery the car will die either way.

My car can still have a good ALternator and good battery. Disconnect the alternator postive wire and the vehicle will die anyways(mabye not right off the bat but will die). What did a prove."

That guy never responded back.

 

[LOW ET 10+ year member]

i understand that he has a stall problem but the question was brought up if the new alternator was bad. this is just a simple and fast way of checking assuming everything else is ok.

it does work on new cars!

i guess i understand what you're saying by not proving anything. if the alternator can't meet the demands of the amp draw of the vehicle the car will die even if it's a good alternator, but i've yet to see a 20-30amp alternator on a car.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

i understand that he has a stall problem but the question was brought up if the new alternator was bad. this is just a simple and fast way of checking assuming everything else is ok.
it does work on new cars!

i guess i understand what you're saying by not proving anything. if the alternator can't meet the demands of the amp draw of the vehicle the car will die even if it's a good alternator, but i've yet to see a 20-30amp alternator on a car.

I hate to tell you, but there quite a few brand new cars that will cut off if you remove the battery from the equation.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

http://www.aa1car.com/library/charging_checks.htm

 

[LOW ET 10+ year member]

I hate to tell you, but there quite a few brand new cars that will cut off if you remove the battery from the equation.

that may be so, i just haven't came across one.

but we are talking about a 1973 duster