Recently (out of the blue) I've been having problems with my -se's charging system. It got the the point were every time I drove the car it would run the battery completely dry, it would have a hard time maintaining spark while the headlights were up and etcetera, so I replaced the alternator and battery just to be safe.

At this point I am getting frusterated because the issue still remains. The battery holds a charge, yet the alt. seems to not put out enough to run the signals/lights/whatever. The battery just this night decided to over charge on me and melt through the case.

So the bottom line -

Battery gets overcharged, yet simple electrical tasks overload the alt. to the point of killing engine spark.

Is there anything that is out of the ordinary that I should check out first before I start checking grounds or what? I have searched on this topic but most threads are due to a dying alternator, which I am 99% sure that this isn't the case.

Thanks for the help.

 

Its possible the voltage regulator in the alternator isnt working right, Ive had more than one new (rebuilt) alternator bad out of the box. Most of the time they test good on the bench too. I usually just take them in and tell them its dead, they dont ask questions and give me a new one (I always buy the lifetime warranty ones for this reason).

Obviously you do want to check your grounds and charging wires. The alternator should be putting out about 14.4 volts when running, and you should see about the same voltage at the battery.

I would also be looking at the fusible links. If the alt was overcharging, and or the system over drawing, you could have overloaded the links which are causing excess circuit resistance and giving the impression of the system "starving" for power, or, excess resistance will cause an overdraw of current too depending on the situation.

~T.J.

 

The previous post has great advice. The voltage reg sounds like its shot. I'd replace the wire from the fusable link bus to the alternator with a new one (old wiring can cause many problems). DO some testing - get yourself a volt meter. Test the static battery (12.7+ volts) - then start the car and measure the voltage at the battery (should be in the mid 14v range). If not - chek the voltage of the running car at the alternator. Somewhere between the two you might find the problem and that is a simple fix. If not, bring the alternator into the parts place and have them test it on their machine.

Then replace your damn fuseable links - I have heard that the newer hard fuses will fit in the same place as the wires, but do some searching. The fuseable links love to crap out very slowly and cause electrical gremlins..

Most of all - good luck.

 

Thanks guys! I knew it wasn't the voltage regulator because the alt. wasn't new... It was pulled off of another (running) FB in which it ran flawlessly

I did change the fuseable links, and it fixed all my issues before even diving in to checking grounds. One was so degraded and crusty that it practically fell apart in my finger tips; I am surprised they lasted as long as they did to be honest.

But seriously, thanks again. If it wasn't for this forum I'd be just another kid with a broken down 7. I don't know how long I would've went without replacing the fusable links, but it would've been too long.

 

Well now that you got it figured out dump the fusible links and put the 2nd gen fuses in their place! :-)

 

Well worth the $10 upgrade. I notice my voltage showed higher in the instrument cluster after I did this mod.