What's eating all my voltage??? No big power eating accessories installed. Only a mid level Kenwood cd\radio. No amps, eq's or anything else. That's it. If only headlights and vent are on, my voltage meter sometimes slumps to below 9v and my tach is always jumping to the beat of my blinkers. I have a new battery and a new alternator. Oh yeah, this is an '89 IROC with L03. Any thoughts??

 

that's pretty low, check to see if you have thrown an alternator belt.

 

If it were me i would recheck your prior work to make sure everythings ok and u didnt chafe anything to grd....

Verfiy the actual alt. output voltage at the battery to see what it actualy is(stock guages are garbage in this regard)

Then i would start going after all the grds , because most likely one of them is your problem.

All u need it a decent voltmeter and the wiring diagrams for your car
Later
Jeremy

 

Thats pretty normal for a 105 amp unit. A typical TG with the A/C on, headlights and cooling fans(da big current hog) will slump way down at idle. The 105 amp alt is fine and it will maintain the battery at around 80% of capacity but does not have enough idle output when accessories are on. It should immediately come up as soon as you hit the gas. If it does you are fine, they are all basically that way. Next alt replacement you might want to consider a 140 amp unit. It will still slump somewhat, but the idle output is closer to 90 amps or so. You can also purchase an undersize pulley for the alt to ramp up the output a little more at idle. Otherwise don't worry about it.

 

Thanks for all the input.

Chefdan, I thought the belt might be worn, so I swapped it out the other day.

3.8, somehow, I never thought about the ground. Not sure what I was thinking, but somehow I wasn't thinking logicly. Thanks for the reminder. I'll hit them up this weekend.

Danno, I appreciate your input on the output of my alternator. Your right in the fact that it could probably use a bigger one. Just like with engines and beers, you can never get one big enough. I'll have to look around see if I can't find a 140AMP. The one I bought was only meant to be temporary anyways to replace one that was whining like a cat in heat!!

Thanks all.

:lala:

Andy

 

I just picked up a 140 amp powermaster from Summit. I think it was around $150. Looks good and works well.