I remove the smog pump from my car, and put on a slightly shorter than stock belt (as described in the tech article.) Now my alternator is not putting out enough volts to recharge the battery. When i turn the key, voltage drops drops to about 5-6 volts. Could this be a result of using a different length belt?

Car is a 1990 firebird 350 tbi. Using 305 acc.

Thanks in advance.

 

if you mean it drops only while starting thats probably normal for a run down battery(any bat will drop some) what you need to look for is what the voltage is while the engine is running. if its not 13 or so then you have a problem. make sure your tension is tight and connections are tight and oxidation free

 

theres no oxidation or corrosion on the battery terminals. its a serpintine belt so doesnt the tensioner keep the correct tension on it (i'm sure the tensioner is good.) as far as voltage, it will start with a jumpstart, idles at about 12 volts, and continues to lose volts. could this be a problem with the belt (could it be an under-drive belt making everything turn slower) or is the alternator shot?

thanks.

 

i dont think the length of the belt has anything to do with the speed of the pullys, however since you are not useing the stock belt then your tensioner may not be right. i dont think this is the problem

i think your problem is with the two wires coming from the alt. i belive one goes right to the batt( for a reference to regulate output) and one is a monitor. i think you need to have that one wire hooked up to the batt or you may burn out the voltage regulator in the alt. so short story long take it to the parts store and have them check it. also make sure those wires are properly connected

 

I realized the length of the belt was irrelevnet about half an hour or so after I posted that (kinda felt like an idiot but ohh well, I was tierd) anyway what do you mean two wires??? I have one wire and one harness that connect to the alt. I disconnected the battery at the pos teminal, could that have fried somthing?
on an unrelated subject is there a fuse for the hatch pull down, and if there is, is it with the rest of the fuses?
thank you much

 

Pull the top plug and with the key on-engine off measure the 2 wires. One should read battery voltage, the other lighter guage wire is the sense wire. It is used to turn the gen on and off as well as provide a reference form the interior of the cars electrical system. It will typically read a volt lower than the battery. It is fuse protected from a fuse in the panel marked "fan/chg" normally, 89 its on the top right of the fuse panel. It's not likely you damaged the generator unless the key was on when disconnecting the battery and even then it's rare. It is possible if the belt is incorrect for the gen to have low output. If you turn on the key and DON'T crank and the battery terminal voltage is 5-6 volts the batt must be charged before troubleshooting. The tensioner guage should tell you about drive belt length. If the voltages are correct and the belt tension is OK most likely the gen took a crap. Normal output after a start for a CS gen is 13.5-14.5 volts.