i know that this has been posted before, but my battery has been constantly discharging and i am almost sure that it is the alternator is in someway bad.

before the battery started discharging, i used to notice that when the car was running, whenever i stepped on the brakes (even with all electrical components off)
that the volt meter would drop down to 12, come back up to about 13, and then without me even touching anything a few seconds later would drop down again. i also noticed that sometimes the volt gage, would dip a little while driving.

do these syptoms fit the description of a failing alternator? or should i be looking elswhere for a power drain while car is off?

oh yeah i have:

brand new die hard battery
brand new battery terminal clamps
brand new belts all nice and tight
an extra power wire going from the battery to alternator post.

any ideas?

please help,

i have a pound of c4 strapped to the hood i will detonate if i cant fix this problem.

 

I would say your regulator is dead but I am no expert. My first alternator long ago did that and the next day my car die after a couple of hours of driving.

 

My car was doing exactly the same thing recently. Had it load tested. Voltage regulator was on the fritz. I replaced the alternator.
HTH
Crispy
- what do I expect from an 18 year old car with 170k on it?

 

With the engine idleing & the headlights on, check the voltage drop from the alternator frame to battery negative.
It should be near zero.

 

do you mean watch the voltage with engine idleing, then turn off the lights and watch the voltage to see if it drops?
or measure the voltage between batt pos. and negative with lights on eng. idleing, than check the voltage from alt frame to batt neg. and compare?

i'm not very electrically inclined, sorry.