I have an 88 raceport turbo engine. I swapped in a S5 alt. today because my old one died. It worked well, it held about 14v on idle. I do have a lot of acc. going to it. When I put on my headlights, fog lights, and electric fan, the v's drop to 12v and then it suddenly drops and the car dies, and the battery is dead. Do I have a short somewhere or maybe the alt. can't handle it?
List of acc.

Apex safc
Apex turbo timer
Boost and water gauge
Fog lights
300 watt amp
Walbro 255 fuel pump
Electric fan

I think that is it

 

You might just have too much **** going to it, bro. When your fogs and all the other accessories are on, you're probably using more power, too, cause of the lighting and **** that needs to be on that probably comes on with the headlights. Then if you get to a stop light or something... just adds more draw to it.

To really check it out put the pos. lead of a voltmeter on the B+ terminal of your alternator, and the negative side to ground, preferably battery. Turn all the accessories on and see what happens. Then the brakes, too. If it just keeps getting lower and lower it's your alternator.

If I were you, I'd save up for a nice optima and an FD alternator.

Hope it helps.

 

If you have a short you would either blow a fuse or overheat the wiring causing a poss fire.

With that said, I would turn to your battery and alt. Your alternator doesn't really work at idle. Your battery does a lot of the work. Your alternator charges the battery. You could have an old battery or just corroded terminals on the battery not allowing the alt to charge it. I would start there.

With that said. if you still have problems listen to spot skater and get that bigger alt.

 

I had an a FD alternator and serpentine belt conversion kit on the way, but UPS lost the package. So, I got the S5 one for now.

I just jumped the car again and shut off all acc. The alt. isn't doing anything now. Once I take the cables off, the volt's just drop again. I think I fried alt. #2. Oh, well.

Thanks for your help guys, but it is just about 1 year and 15K later, and I still don't have this car going right, so I am officially calling it quits. I'll have someone else figure it out. Again, your help is much appreciated.

 

damn. those alt's are expensive.