So me beast is running again, but now I have either a pwoer drain or a bad alternator (battery keeps dying). My father in law told me to check for a power draw by charging up the battery, then hooking up the battery, and looking for any spark when you hook it up. I tried this, and got a tiny spark. However, if I disconnect the alternator lead, I get no spark. I tried this a few times, and it held true. Does this mean I have a short in my alternator? I'm going to take it up to autozone and get them to test it anyways, just trying to get a heads up.

Also, whem the car is running, I get 13-13.5v across the battery.

Thanks once again...

 

Life is simple, don't make it difficult.

Pull the small, two wire connector off the back of the alternator.

Put your meters neg lead on the battery neg post OR any good ground nearby.

Put your meter on DC Volts.

Put your positive lead on one of the blades where the small plug was on the alternator. In fact, put it on the blade where the BLACK/WHITE wire connected. That should be the upper most blade ON THE ALTERNATOR.

You should read 0 volts.

IF you read 12v, IMHO you have a diode blown in the alternator.

Not to worry.

Cut the BLACK/WHITE wire and splice in a blocking diode to keep the current from going towards the harness.

If you got this far and want to put a diode in, answer and I'll give you a part number. They are very, very expensive. They run appox one to two dollars AUS.

I've bought a couple of alternators off EBAY that were in this condition for cheap. One dollar later and I've got a perfectly good running alternator to replace the series four alt.

If someone sees a flaw in the above....be sure to butt in. I enjoy confrontation.

 

By the way, that small plug has a BLACK/WHITE wire and a WHITE/BLACK wire. Take note of that. Black with a Black stripe and White with a ............stripe.Yes.

 

An external diode - crude - but effective.. I like it..

 

I swear, this forum needs to get together and get Hailers something nice for whatever holiday he celebrates.

I'll hit it with the meter when I get home.

~

 

Any red Ferrari will do. Any model, any year. Must have a/c. Thank you.

 

damn... I was like.. who the hell... and then i saw it was hailers and said.. "awesome"

 

Any red Ferrari will do. Any model, any year. Must have a/c. Thank you.

 

<digression>
Hailers - you really don't want a Ferrari - way too high maintenance.

How about a RX-8 turbo?

 

No! I want a Ferrari. A old model will do. Anything in the early fifties is just fine. It's not like I'm asking for a brand new one.

Let us know how the alt check turned out. The problem could be another thing.

 

I'll hit up the ferarri dealer tomorrow... and they'll laugh me out the door

No dice on the diode. 0v to the top blade.

However, following the wonderful haynes manual, I stuck the meter between the negative battery cable and the negative battery post with the ignition in the off position, and I get 12.5v.

Now, I would describe my skills as an electrician as 'just enough to be dangerous', but I think I have a short somewhere... someone edumacate me.


edit: I can't spell either.

 

arrr, I'm a fool.
So I start opening up the wiring harness, and lo and behold, the cables going to the alternator and to the ignition (I think) were both cut about halfway through, with muchos corrosion to boot. I replaced both, and replaced the battery cables and added another ground while I was at it. Now I get 14.3v with the engine running. yay!

Haven't checked to see if it's drawing any current while the car's off yet.

Thanks again for all of your help