joegallo13b

my 87 non turbo gxl is not holding a good full charge, it has a new alternator and a brand new battery. the volt meter shows around 9, 10 volts without putting a load on the battery, when i turn everything on in the car the volts drop.

**this should have something to do with it , when i turn the acc on, all the warning lights are supposed to light up, now only 2 come on....

im going to have the alternator tested although its new..

thanks

dwb87

iTrader: (22)

Remove the negative battery terminal, set a multimeter to AMP current (mA), one prong to the negative car terminal, one prong to the negative battery terminal, BE SURE ALL ELECTRICAL LOADS ARE OFF, now see if the multimeter is reading very very little current (mA) or zero... If it is displaying more than it should be, remove the 60A BTN fuse from the engine fuse box (so that you can open the door of the car without the lights coming on), go into the car and start pulling fuses from the fuse panel by your feet, one at a time. If that fuse doesn't get the multimeter to display zero, then put it back in and try another fuse. You can also try pulling other things... The way I found my drain, was by unplugging my turbo timer. The multimeter then displayed zero, and that's how I knew that was the problem.

satch

iTrader: (1)

There's a Black cable bolted to the alternator which is the output wire and you can measure the voltage from this wire w/the engine running (should be about 14 volts) as this is a more accurate reading then relying on the gauge voltmeter. And most of the the idiot lights should light up when the key is turned to the on position and not ACC.

joegallo13b

ok thanks so much, im going to get a DMM today