I have a problem, my alternator on my 88 maro has slowly been dying on me. the car would stall at every red light and the voltage and amps would drop. I decided to replace it finally, but the one I bought was the wrong size. so I put the old one back in. this is my problem, when I started the car the voltage jumped up to 18 and stuck, all my lights got brighter, this scared my so I turned the car off. when I went to restart the car nothing happened. I tested to see if the battery was dead but it is still putting out voltage at the battery(I tested with a multimeter) but when I put the lights on nothing happens. I know when a battery is dying, it still makes the lights light, but the are real dim. this is not the case for me. my entire car is dead. can anyone give me an idea what the problem is?

 

Sounds like you fried the fusible links. The voltage spike probably popped them.

Matt

 

were can i find the fusible links on the car, so i can test them?

 

I checked all the fusible links and they were fine. I was very upset so I sat in my car and tried the headlights again and nothing, then I tried the heater and when I turned it on it made a familiar noise for a split second. I decided to turn the key and try the heater again, when I turned the key the car started and the voltage was normal everything ran fine. what the hell happened to my car that made it go completely dead one day, to running fine the next day?

 

ghost?

im sorry i had too

have you had the alternator checked? are you positive the battery is good?