Hey, currently our 87 IROC is burning up alternators. And recently when we used our warranty to get a new one, the new one was burned up already... then we went to get ANOTHER one, and its plug was screwed up and it was grinding when spinning, so finally we have another one. We're trying to figure out why the car is draining the battery within a day, since we don't want to make any more trips for another alternator, we're wondering if there's a way to hookup the battery, or maybe a battery charger directly to the car, bypassing the alternator (don't want it frying so we just want to bypass it)


does anyone know how to go about doing this?

I don't think that is a good idea i think you should find another place to buy your alternators sounds like checker auto parts to me take the one you have and use it for a core somewhere else or have it rebuilt later:rockon:

Turns out it's defective :/

MEH!
we found the leak, i believe it was a 2 amp drain (sound like it could kill battery in 24 hours?)

And quick question
the wire coming off of the alternator (single wire, black with red stripe) goes to a relay. Does anyone know what this relay is called, and would it cause an alternator to not charge?

The car was charging fine before, but one day after shutting it off, it didn't seem it was charging. Alternator was changed for two others, both the 'newer ones' wouldn't charge.

These alternators are from NAPA, btw :/

check all your connections, the voltage regulator controls the charging of the battery i would take my battery in and have it checked

A 2 amp drain will definitely lower the battery enough for a no start condition. I looked at an 87 wiring diagram and see no relay in line. If it is a 3 wire alt it goes like this. The heavy wire from the rear goes to the battery through a fuse link. The 2 wires on the top plug should have 12 volts with the key on. The heavier of the 2 wires on the plug is the 12 on to the regulator inside the alt, the thinner brown or tan colored is the "sense" wire. It ties to a 20 amp fuse in the fuse panel under the dash. It may be marked C/H-Fan at the fuse. Check the fuse. With the engine off check for 12 volts at the heavy wire at the rear of the alt. Key on engine off do the same at the 2 plug wires, you can pull the plug off the alt for this test. Even if something is different you will still need these 3 voltages for the alt to operate. Troubleshoot as needed. Always sart with a good, fully charged battery when diagnosing a charging problem, I can't emphasize that enough.