My altenator is fu*ked up and wont charge my battery so im looking at the 140amp summit altenator for my car. Will that help with charging it? And is that ok to put into my TBI?

SSBO

 

Sure, you can go to 200 amps if you want. A common myth is that the alt charges the battery. It does not, it only maintains the battery at about 80% of it's rated capacity in amp/hrs. A higher output alternator will help to maintain the battery if the accessory load is high. If you do a lot of night driving with the lights, A/C, high power stereo a higher output unit is a plus. The condition of the battery and it's state of charge is AS critical as the output of the alt. If you put a battery that is not fully charges or on the low side of capacity it will NEVER reach full capacity even with a 200 amp alt. TG's used 63 and 105 amp units as the common factory supplied alt. That depended on what the car came equipped with. Dual cooling fans for example are current hogs and the cars with them came with 105 amp units. A 105 will keep a good battery in as good a state of charge as a higher output unit. if you intend to install anything that increases load on the electrical system then do consider a 140. One other drawback of a high amp alt is that it reduces the life of the battery. The battery gets smacked with extremely high current especially on a cold start with the accessories off which batteries don't like very much. Whatever you do make sure when you replace the alt you give the battery a good trickle charge, or better yet get it tested if you can't do it youself and make sure it's up to snuff before replacing the alt. I can't tell you how many times people come to me after replacing the alt only to find that the battery either cooked the old one or it's not charging correctly. Cleaning terminals and checking grounds is also important.

 

damn thats interesting, i didnt know that, well i got a cheap advanced auto parts battery and i guess ima go buy another. What battery will take alot of abuse diehard? Thanx alot man i didnt know that at all bout the alt.

SSBO

 

As long as it's a good battery no need to replace it if it's new. AC Delco makes a decent battery, or depending on your pocketbook the Optima. Stock generally calls for a 75A12, or a 75 amp/hr battery. That means a fully charged one can deliver 75 amps for 1 hour before discharging assuming it's fully charged. Don't confuse that with the CCA rating. A higher CCA rating is also an indication of how well the battery will perform under the worst cold start conditions.

 

I'd have to disagree with that, I've never had an AC Delco battery live longer than a year in any vehicle I've put one into.

 

I have had a 5 year sealed AC Delco battery 7 years in a car before. 1993 Caprice Classic Didnt change the stock battery until late 2000 I think november so that may be closer to 8 years that it lasted. Yes the car was bought new with 75 miles on it In early 93. Batteries are like anything else. Sometimes you get a good one sometimes you get a bad one.

WesDog

 

Then you have a problem that is not being addressed.

 

Ordinarily I'd agree with you, but when it happens with multiple batteries in multiple vehicles, and other brands of battery are just fine, the conclusion is that AC Delco batteries are garbage.

Maybe they were good at one time, the original battery in my 92 Cutlass was good for 7 years. Two replacement AC Delco's were both dead within 3 months. The Sears Die Hard I put in after that is still going after 4 years. I also had a new 98 Intrigue that the original battery died on after 5 months. The dealer replaced it with another battery that didn't last much longer. I put a cheap Exide in it and it's been fine.