I spent the morning yesterday searching all the posts but I got conflicting information. Heres the story a couple of days ago I noticed that my voltage guage was slowly dropping, then In the morning the car was hard to start. Well anyways on my way home it continued to go down and the windows were slow and the car lost performance. So when I get home I tryed the disconnect battery while engine is running test and right when I disconnected the positive side the engine died, well after that the battery was dead and I had to jump it from my other car. The car started and stayed on but the voltage remained low almost touching the red while the car was on. I also tryed putting a screwdriver on the alternator like one of the posts said and the screwdriver was magnitized to the alternator. After I jumped the car I turned it off and tryed again and it started by itself. I know I should just go take it to the auto parts store and have it checked but I wanted your guys advise because the auto parts people dont know **** and you guys are always right. please help. Btw this barely started like 3 days ago, voltage has always been fine.

 

NEVER EVER do the old remove the positive cable off the battery while the engine is running. NEVER....that might have worked 20 years ago, but now your alternator is going to see voltage drop from lets say 13 volts down to 0 and it will go into overtime to charge it back up to a reasonable voltage... that's very bad to do.

Stop being lazy and test it with a battery draw test.....a pep boys, etc can't screw up hitting a button on a machine to test a battery or alternator.

 

He-he...yeah. Don't do the battery unhook test on newer cars. On my '70 Dodge truck and the wifes' '68 Dart...its' fine....no harm done.

But voltage spikes on a computer controlled system ain't good! Might wind up costing you more than the alternator I suspect you're about to buy!

 

Thanks for the info guys but I guess it's to late because I already did it. Since the car died right away I hope i didnt do any other damage. I got that advise from a couple posts when i did a search the moderators should edit those posts so no one else follows like I did. Anyways I guess I'll get my lazy *** to go get the batterey and alternator tested. Thanks for the replies I will let you know what it is.

 

Sounds like your alternator is DOA! The voltage regulator
inside the alternator is dead, so you would have to replace
the alternator. The battery may be no good now either,
since it had to be the ONLY source of power to make
your car's electrical system functional. I am 99.9% sure
it's the alternator AND the battery that needs replacing.

I would just replace both the alternator and battery.

To make sure, start up the car. While running, place
a volt meter on the battery. If it only reads like 13 volts
or less, which it probably will, then your alternator is
not working anymore. It should be charging at 14 - 14.7
volts, nothing less than that. It's pretty simple to
replace the alt. and battery your self. Also, buy a
GM reman. IF possible, cause aftermarket remans from
Pepboys or Autozone may not last! The GM reman.
alternator may be more, but worth it! You can get any
battery you want, as long as it's a good brand name
and new, NOT remanufactured!

 

Thanks guys for all your help. It was the Alternator, I changed it and i'm back on the road.

 

Awesome! Glad to hear that something got fixed
right from our "expert advice". :lala:

Just kidding! I use a "diagnostic dart board".
It's an old method that lazy mechanics use!

Ah, kidding again, of course! I am an Auto tech of
almost 9 years now. So, I think know stuff, but I really
don't! Kidding! I am in a stupid mood today! :lala: