Ive got a mind boggling problem and i cant figure it out

symptoms;

huge electrical draw when i hit the brakes (Tach needle dips, radio cuts out, lights flicker, etc) but return even though the brake lights are still on

15 volts while cruising (new alternator)

turnsignals and wipers cause voltage dips see in voltmeter

No power whatsoever when key on; Zero volts

when Jump box or backup battery is connected, car comes to life.

car will crank and start normally when being "jumped", albeit slow cranking despite a seemingly charged jumping battery.

i have a new alternator in it now which didnt fix the problem... so i suspect my old alternator is still good. i have a Stinger Dry cell battery which replaced my Marine/RV deep cycle battery, which did nothing. all connections MUST be secure because when the car is being jumped w/ the cables hooked to the in-car battery terminals, the car powers up. obviously current is passing thru the battery cables and to the starter and components if i can still start the car w/ the jumper battery hooked directly to the in-car battery. obviously the car starts when i hook up the jumper cables "Properly", that is, positive cable on positive terminal on in-car battery and negative jumper cable hooked to engine/chassis ground on the car instead of in-car battery negative post.

is there something else im missing? an external voltage regulator or relay or resistor or module which is preventing the car from charging the battery?

it seems as if the car is only running off the current being generated by the alternator itself rather than the storage battery, hence the voltage dips when i apply a large load; Brake lights, wipers, turn signals, head lights, etc.

if hook the jumper cables to the in-car battery and tap the other ends of the jumper cables together, no spark is created even if the car IS running or has been driving for hours.

Last time my alternator crapped out, all my idiot lights would come on at once and my voltage would slowly decrease untill it would barely run. this is something completely different.

please help... i dont get it.

 

i notice in your avatar your car has the "lazy eye settup... is your fuse pulled to do this... the reason i ask is because when i pulled my fuse for the lazy eye it caused a HUGE power drain... it all stopped when the fuse was put back in... just a suggestion

 

The lights in your avatar look broken.

 

Have you "played" with the negative battery cable in the car at all? Replaced it, whatever....

Lazy eye thing sounds good, too...Haven't heard about that one yet...

 

clean those sons of bitchs terminals off if they are dirty.

 

the SLEEPY eye thing does cause the power to drain over a couple days... but as you can clearly see in my avatar, that car is an 88 w/ black side mouldings. the GTUs was a S5 with body colored mouldings, so the car in my avatar cannot possibly be the problem-vehicle.

i have fiddled and wiggled the negatory battery cable to no avail. besides, if it was problematic, i would trouble jump starting the car when i hook the jumper cables to the battery terminals. but when i hook them to the battery terminals, it cranks and starts up just fine.

i read in the repair manual that some cars had fusible links between the alternator and the starter... i wonder if the S5 had fusible links.

the battery terminals have been cleaned and so have the battery cable ends.

 

If you're bored you can search for a thread I did sometime early this year I think where I had similar problems. I didn't go so far as replacing the alternator, but I did buy a new battery to no avail.

My solution: Yank out your EGI and HEAD fuses under the hood, should be the two closest to the engine in the fuse box in the engine bay. Go have a cup of coffee, surf the net, beat your dog, etc. Put fuses back in (rightside up) see if it works. This resets the computer on the car.

I don't pretend to know WHY this worked. On mine I had accidentally left a malfunctioning power seatbelt plugged in overnight and it drained the battery. Apparently low chargess can do funky things with the car's CPU.

I charged the battery, pulled those fuses, put em back in and the car hasn't given me any power issues since.

 

i see, well maybe ill try that out.

 

Let me know if it works. Maybe this happens to a lot of them...maybe my car is possesed.