87 IROC 350 TPI
so for the billionth time i fully charged my batt. my alt (recently new napa replacement one) and batt have been tested at 2 different places and they are good. i start the car and my voltage is around 10 according to my volt guage. when the car is off and i turn the ignition 1/2 way just to power the electrical system, my batt guage is reading around 12 volts like it should be right? but when i turn on my car, shouldnt the voltage be around 14 running?

strangest of all, for the week that my batt has been charged, it will hold its charge but it very very slowly drains (prob a small draw somewhere) but the thing that confuses my is that on this one day when i start my car the voltage slowly but noticeably drops from the 10 volts it is at running to below 8 where the car starts to idle high and from there i cannot start the car agian. its dead.

reading a few posts, i got the idea that maybe my wires from my alt to charge the batt are bad. cant hurt to buy new ones but i dont see why that on one day the car drains? any ideas? i need this thing running.

 

I just go over the same problem I found out it was my alternator.

If you run the car and it is at 10volts Im going to say the alternator is bad. it should be like 14volts. Espically if your batt is at 12 volts in accessory mode.

How old is the napa alt?

If not that old tell them its is a defect and get a new one.

I have seen alot of napa rebuilts bad out of the box anyway.

For the drain you running any aftermarket stuff?

Some more info please...

 

no aftermarket electronics allthough the previous owner of the car had a system in it but that was all taken out except for a few wires that i pulled out my self. the alt was new in feb-mar and it has been checked at three different shops that both say it is good? if it was defected wouldnt it not show up good when? im not trying to push this fact but i just dont want to go spend a lot of $$$ on a new one, which if i have to i will end up buying one that does 140 amps. my a/c was taken out, i dont know if that would affect anything.
still any ideas about what the hell is wrong with my car?

 

To see if you have a drain. disconnect the negative battery cable put a test light in between. If it lights up you have a drain.

Then you have to start pulling fuses to see when the light goes out. When it does you found the circuit with the drain.

Check it out to see if you have a drain

 

just did it for the thousandth time still test light does not go on.
any other ideas, could really use the help?

 

ok so i had enough juice in my batt to start the car, guage like usual was readin around 10 volts when it began to drain again. this drain always happens when the car is on, and currently there is something wrong with my cooling fans not turning on. i attached some jumpers and both fan motors work. i dont know much about electrical systems in camaros so i dont know where all these wires are supposed to be plugged in to. but anyways im thinking that when the car starts to get hot, the fans are supposed to turn on but none of them do which leads me to beleive something is shorting them out? could i be right about this? is this a possible reason as to why my car drains when it is turned on? it drains reasonably fast too, i can watch the voltage guage inside drop slowly until the car is only running off the alt.
any suggestions?

 

Ok well I just disconnected my negative battery terminal from my battery. I put the test light in between the battery and the battery cable and it lit up. This means I have a power drain?

 

possibly.. make sure all doors, etc. are closed (and if you have a hood light.. disconnect it)

and see if the light is still on

if so, then start pulling fuses out one at a time.

I had a battery drain AND a charging problem
the battery drain was because the old radio that we were/are using's clock doesn't shut off.. and it drains the battery

the charging problem we THOUGHT was the alternator.. but we went through about 3 or 4 in two weeks.. that wasn't it..

At some point we figured it out.. there's a fuse labeled "FAN" or something, and.. for some reason the alternator is on that fuse. Pull the fuse, the alt stops charging.. put it in and push it, it charges.. Even with it in, sometimes it wouldn't charge... after closer inspection, the metal pieces that hold the fuse in were too far appart to actually get a good connection on the fuse.. so i broke another fuse, and took the metal ends and shoved them on the other fuse's ends, and it fixed the problem.

except when i turn the key on, the battery says around 10 volts.. when it should be much higher.. but the alternator does charge, and everything

i don't understand that part

 

doors were all closed, i took out all the light bulbs, dont have a stereo in yet. ill check up on that fuse...by any chance is this fan fuse located under the hood or is it in the fuse block under the dash? i dnot understand the low charging thing too maybe the alt Napa gave me is a low amperage alt? but heres a question...when you step on the gass does your voltage meter drop a little then go back up? mine does....

any other suggestions on my mysterious drain?

 

IF your fans aren't turning on then you have a problem...what is the hottest your car has got temp wise?

Also what rated amp is your alternator?

If you can start your car then the gauge drops you have a drain while the car is running.

also it shouldn't dip down then go back up when you hit the gas..mine gague drops when i turn on the blinker it will flicker between 13 and 14.

 

i dont know what amperage my alt is rated at. its a repplacement from Napa. my cooling fans arent workin because the hot wires to them go now where.there was some splicing done and a few jumpers but now those jumpers are gona and they dont turn on. thats how i bought the car so i dont know **** on wiring and hope to bring it to a 3rd gen specialist for that.

if my guage isnt supposed to drop when i step on the gas then what could be causing that? i would think that if my alt (that has been tested twice and is good)isnt charging enough then by increasing the speed would be increasing the speed at which my pulleys are spinning which could be sucking some power? is this right?
more help please?