Okay.. So.. my car had bad battery terminals, and this was preventing it from running good. I replaced those and the battery wouldn't hold a charge. Replaced the batt and it acted like it wasn't charging. New alt was installed and now if I jump the car, it acts like it's charging for a while but then starts discharging. I drove for a couple minutes with 14v, but then after another 10 mins to get the car home (didn't start at home), the voltmeter was down to 8v and it almost died until i turned off the lights and then it made it home.

 

Check the fuse box terminals, you might be loose on the main fuse (which is held in by 10mm nuts).

Either that or your alternator was not installed correctly.

And your bump was deleted.

 

thanks for deleting the bump.. didn't want it anyway LoL
But as for fixing the car.. main fuse is fine and I appear to have installed the alt correctly.
However.. the two times it's done this were at night.. i wonder if it's something related to the lights?
going for a drive, back in 5.
Keep the suggestions coming thow.. I'm down to this car and one other

 

This a Turbo??? if not the voltmeter on the dash should be telling us what is happening, anytime that the voltage is dropping under 12 volts, its running on just the battery.

How about the 2 pin plug on the back of the alt??? is it loose??? And this is the standard alt for the car right??? Not a FD alt or something???

 

yeah - Id be checking simple things first...I thought my alt. was going on the 87 and it turned out to be a loose positive wire on the back of the alt. - check all your connections...then check them once more ( id even go so far as to take them off and make sure they are clean and reconnect them) check your fuses....

if you come up with nothing I would begin measuring your voltage drops when you put the lights on etc. as well as see if there is any draw on the battery when the car is off (this would indicate a bad connection/shitty ground/dangling positive wire or somethign else to drain the battery)

 

I checked everything on the alt (yeah, standard alt, 87 NA) and it seemed to be fine.. althow i think my belt is nearing the end of its days.. and I drove around - about 10 miles - and it worked fine. I think it must be a short in the lights/motors/etc because it only acted like it was effing up when I drove with the lights on. This car needs to be regrounded, too so I'm wondering if there's a ground up near the lights/taillights that's shorting when there's power to the positive side of the lights. What I just said makes no sense.. but see if you can decipher it lol

 

thats strange.......

well I would first ask whether your fuses for your lights is the proper amperage....if there is enough of a drain on the headlamp circuit to make the car run like **** then it SHOULD be blowing a fuse....

but aside from that I would need to know the proper drain that the headlamp curcuit will put on the battery and then get a reading from yours and compare them.....

 

i have two other (well, one technically) cars that i can test with.. but i'll be back if i can't figure it out!

 

Make sure the connections with the clamps and lines are strong.