so i had my checked O.K. batt and my checked O.K. alt in the car, fully charged and when i started the car you could literally watch the volt meter drop. it was drained and running off the alt in less than a minute. whats wrong?

 

camaro4life ss I had a similar problem with my 84 t/a when I was driving my volt meter would just drop. I had my alternator check a month earlier and the guy said I had a good alt and my battery was also good. It ended up being my alt so I replaced it and everything was fine. when they check your alt they test to signals one is how much volts the alt is giving off and how much volts are actually going to the battery. one may be good and the other one may be bad hope this helps. You didnt explane what is draining is it your battery because your alts wont drop if your battery is bad.

 

well i have no clue what is draining...when the car was holding a charge i checked for shorts and there were no shorts then one day i turned it on and less than a minute later my voltage meter was at 0 and my car was running off the alt...i think because my car began to idle at around 1500-2000rpm. today im going to wally world to get a cheapo batt and put it in to see if it drains, if it does then i know its not my batt. but what might it be?

 

Try placing an external volt meter across the battery terminals when the gauge inside the car says that the volts are zero. See if the external gauge confirms the reading coming from the dash.

Second, in a DC circuit if voltage was truely 0 volts the car would not run. Depending on the year you need at least 9 to 10 volts to fire the plugs. If the battery is really dead but the car continues to run you still have 12V from the alternator. I am not certain where the dash gauge taps in to measure voltage but I would look for a loose connection or bad wire in the harness.

Good Luck
Steve

 

ok thanks ill try that tomorow post what happens when i do it...