Hey guys,
What's goin on? Well this is my first time posting at this site and I heard its awesome I've got a black 91 Camaro RS. 305 Automatic. It's a pretty awesome car. It's got 140K on it but it runs and sounds awesome. Catback Dual with flowmasters. New starter, EGR valve, PCV valve, o2 sensor, brakes, oil change, etc. . No system yet. Well maybe you guys can help me with my current problem. When I stop, the energy guage goes down to about the 10 mark and my lights dim and I idle lower. This doesn't happen within 5 minutes of starting it.....but after that it does. I went to Murray's and they checked the battery and alternator, and said they were both good. The guy that had the car before me installed Dual fans...and had them both on the same wire connected directly to the alternator. . I was thinking this might be the problem so a buddy and I wired them seperately ...but still to the alternator becuase we couldn't find another power source for the yellow wires. So basically all we accomplished is wiring them seperately....it's still powered directly from the alternator. But the fans do sound a lot stronger now. The energy problem is still there. Does anyone have ANY idea's? it's super frustrating and I'm running out of money. Thanks!

 

Welcome. If the fans are running all the time that's normal and that's why I constantly urge people NOT to do it. Based on what you say some changes were made, I would restore it to normal. At idle, dual fans will cause the alternator output to be low if they are running. Stock dual fan setups came with the 105 amp alternator. You may have only a 68 amp stock. Other scenario is to get a higher output alt but the problem is this. Even a higher amp unit will have low or lower output at low rpm. It will restore the battery faster but still indicate low charge at idle. More info always helps.

 

Hey thanks for the info dude. But when you say restore to normal, how would you restore them? I went out there for like a half hour trying to find the ampage stamped on the alternator and the only thing that was on it was a Z with a circle around it and next to that was the numbers: 07110019 . The energy problem really a big neusance and I'd appreciate your help. Thanks!

 

Ohhh and one more thing......I just called Murrays Auto Store and he suggested buying a capacitor instead of a new alternator. He said it would save me a sh*tload of money.

 

With all due respect, the guy at Murrays doesn't know squat. My question was are your fans wired to run constantly? A capacitor will not supply additional current, they are commonly used for large output amplifiers that generate high peak currents in the cars electrical system. The capacitor will smooth large voltage spikes thus protecting the electrical system and the alt. A capacitor will not increase the current capability of the alt. Alternators range in output from a low of 60 amps or so all the way up to 200A depending on the electrical requirements. I looked up your vehicle, it should be 100 amp unit unless it was replaced. The fact that an auto parts store tested it does not mean it has full output. Find the voltage feed wire for the fans, and then move it to the positive terminal of the battery. I assume you mean by being wired to the alt you are using the lug on the rear of the unit. Install it directly to the battery post then see of the voltage remains higher. Let me know what you find.

 

Danno,

I really appreciate your time Thanks so much. Yeah I agree with the Murrays guy not knowin sh*t......I thought the capacitor idea was crazy. But anyways, I went out there and wired the fans directly to the positive side of the battery. They immediately went on and stayed on....even if i took the key out of the ignition.....I drove around for a couple minutes and the same problem persisted. No change :-/ And yesterday I even tried disconnecting the fans completely....still no change. Then one of my buddies told me to disconnect the positive cable while the car was on to test the alternator.....the car remained started. So what do you think? Thank you so much for helpin.

 

ohhhhh yea and to answer your question....they only go on when the car is either on...or when i turn the key almost to start it. otherwise they stay off.

 

Never disconnect the battery cable with it running. It is an old trick, but it can cause the alt to fail or the resulting voltage spike can damage the ECM or any other electronic equipment. I gather that as long as the car is running the fans are on, am I correct? If so, thats NOT the way they work from the factory. Disconnect them temporarily and see if the charging voltage goes up being careful not to let the engine temp go over the middle line. The electric fan is not supposed to come on until engine temp hits 225 or so. In other words the fan(s) on most TG's are OFF most of the time. If they have been modified to run as long as the engine is running that's your problem. Many guy's do that, but it will reduce the charging capability of the alt.

 

Hey,

Well I just disconnected the fans....and sure enough I did see a bit increase in my ampage Yay....but now how do I wire them so they don't drain my energy?? I tried the radiator method where they plugged into the radiator and turned on when it got to 180 degrees......but for some odd reason they never turned on. We jammed the probes into the top left corner of the radiator....did that affect anything? Let me know how you would wire them...Thanks!!!

 

TPI or TBI? I assume it did not have dual fans from the thread so it is probably TBI. Unless you are comfortable with using a schematic diagram and voltmeter you may want to get it done by a shop. You already have one fan relay and most probably the fan sw is still in the block. You just need to restore it to stock. ******* cooling article covers single and dual fan setups, or pick up a Chilton manual.

 

Yeah sorry, it's a TBI. The original fan wire is still there...and it looks fine. I don't really know sh*t about wiring......but I have a few buddies that do . So could you briefly explain how you'd wire them back up the stock way? I just lost my job so I really can't afford to pay some dick at a shop to do nothing. (i live in michigan and all the mechanics are dirty cheaters...I paid 200 to get a starter installed back when I knew nothing about cars...heh ) How much do you think is a fair price to pay a mechanic to do it? Thanks a lot!!!!

 

It sounds like you do NOT have an electrical problem. It might be that the idle speed is to low when the engine is warm. The voltage(power) will drop down to 10 volts on ANY car if the engine is turning less then about 500 RPMs.
What is the idle speed when you first start the car? What is the idle speed 5 minutes later when the engine is warm?

 

Hey. Ok I just went out to start my car. When I first started, the RPM's were 1500. After 5 minutes, it was idling around 600 or 700. That's usually where it's at after being really warm. I'm losing tremendous horsepower lately after driving for over a half hour at a time & the hood feels hot as hell. What do you think? Thanks

 

So the engin speed is fine. You do have an electrical problem. You need an electrical drawing so one of your buddies can wire up the fans. You can get a photocopy at a local library ore buy a manual. I don't have one to post, sorry. Try hooking up only one fan to the alt for now. Measure the voltage with a hand held volt meter.

 

Well right now, He hooked up the dual fans to the Fuse Box :-/ For some reason, that worries me. I'm looking into getting a 140 amp alternator. http://sethirdgen.org/cs144.htm I'm going to buy those 2 parts....but I'm worried about what size serpentine belt I need. (I still have everything stock in my car, nothing deleted). Any suggestions or info would help! Thanks!

 

Well today I bought a Duralast Gold 105 amp alternator. I installed it and I was so excited to watch my voltage be fixed......but of course the problem is still there. My buddy suggested something interesting though. There's a grayish wire that is hooked to a connector & screwed on the back of the alternator. He suggested that this wire may be bad or too small. What exactly is this wire? And where is the other end going to? Thanks!

 

I had the same problem,

except i kept returning altenatorsand even got a higher amped one (it helped s bit more)

ended up being the clip plug that has the line to charge battery (i think thats what it did)

it was just old and wasnt allowing as much current as it could, was like $1.

its white or cream colored and has two holes, kinda square (help me out here guys)

 

Which clip plug are you referring to? The one that plugs directly to the alternator? Thanks

 

yea the one that plugs into the altenator...

just take it into murrays go to electric isle they should have it

 

My current plug has 2 wires on the back. A red and black one. The only ones that I can find at murray's and autozone have a red black and BROWN one. I was told this will not work. What do you think? THanks

 

as long as same plug..

use and ignore the brown one, should work.

they should be able to look the part up on computer to, under your altenator

 

went to checkers autozone and napa all offered the same part napa tried to charge 25 dollars... bought it same problem.. again.. square one...
Shawn

 

Yeah I bought the 3 wire plug and spliced the red and black ones into the original wire........no help at all. AHHHHHHHH THIS VOLTAGE PROBLEM IS KILLING ME!!!!!!!!!

 

3rd gens are wiring hell

have birds nest where my battery is lol...everyone Ive owned is the same..

check/ clean all connections...make sure batt is tight

 

this might be stupid but i also think it might be relivant in my problem solving and his...

we jumped my car the other day the battery drained i left my stereo on all night oops.. Well when i jumped my car we got normal volts again. about 14 then when we disconnected the cars the volts dropped to under 11..
Now does this usually mean my battery is gone? thats what i took it as.. my battery didnt have any juice.. Maybe my entire problem is from using a cheap battery that cant handle a single voltage spike?? i am running out of ideas and cant take it to a mechanic right now...
Shawn

 

Yeah dude, a crappy battery can definitely be the reason. You should go get one of those deep cycle ones. My problem is , I've had mine tested about 10 times at autozone and everytime they say it's fine!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

deep cycle?? my amp has 525 cold cranking amps is that sucky??

 

Its normal for your voltage to drop when things are on in the car,and the car is at idle but when your driving the voltage should pick up. When you go to crank it back up again it should be back at full charge after sitting if not then you have a problem.Also check to make shure you have good grounds to the battery.Now on the horespower loss that is because the hotter the motor gets the less you will have so if you get the fans working properly that should solve all your problems, fans come on at different times, your problem is to just get them hooked up to work properly.

 

Yeah....right now I have the fans hooked up to a switch in the dash. The "power" on the switch is going directly to the battery.....the "ground" is grounded near the fuse box......and the "accessory is directly wired to the fans". They're wired to both turn on when I turn the switch on. When I turn on my fans, my lights dim and my voltage drops quite a lot. Any suggestions on how to avoid this? Thanks.

 

Are you feeding the fans 12 volts through a switch or are you using the relays? That's important to know. You CAN'T pull 12 volts for the fans from the inside fuse panel or inside wiring- it's too light load wise. If that's what you are doing that's why the stuff inside is getting dim.

 

Yeah, I saw that at https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/att...postid=1175882 .......But unfortunately I'm wiring challenged Does anyone have a possible step by step version of this? Thank you sooo much