ok i have a brand new battery and an alternator thats 2 months old.. i watch my cars voltage go down slowly until the whole car dies. I had autozone test the alternator and it was fine..i read on here that it might have something to do with my fan switch being bad wich it is but it has always been bad the fan is on when the car is on no matter what so ithe switch isn't even hooked to the fan. anyways. also my gauge lights have a dead short but they have been like that without the fuse in all winter..i have glow gauges so it doesn't matter. it has a cd player a dvd player and amp and subs but they have been it for about a year now also..with no problems.. i'm just confused as to what it could be if its not the battery or the alternator...nothing is on at all times its all off when the car is off.. so is there any one with any ideas?? cuz i'm out of them.. could it be the cable from the alternator?? if so man is there any way to bypass it and go strait to the battery man i dunno i'm just freaking out about this whole thing.. let me know guys thanks

 

delete one for some reason it went up twice maybe i'm a tard but i dont see a thing to delete one myself...

 

OK, I don't have an '89 manual, so I am looking at the '88 electrical diagram. There might be differences in '89 - perhaps someone else can fill in the blanks. Looking at the electrical diagram, you need to make sure the 20A C/H Fan fuse is good - that feeds the "F" terminal on the connector. The "S" terminal comes from a fusible link off the starter & the "L" terminal goes to the idiot light.

If this is your configuration, you should have 12v at the "S" terminal all the time & 12v at the "F" terminal KOEO. With the engine running, measure voltage on the large red wire at the back of alt - if you have battery voltage, 12.x then the alt is not charging. With everything working properly, you should have 13.x + volts at that terminal. Check a few things out and post back - we'll get you back charging, it's not a complex system.
Corky

 

It isn't the best picture but it is out of my 89 Firebird. Hope it helps.

 

all right guys thanks i'm going to try some things and get back to you tomorrow .

 

make sure both red wires on the alt are hot

if not then they need to be connected so that they are

i always loop the spade red wire down to the the charging post with the charging wire

if they are hot then something else is wrong somewhere, inside the alt, or something else

good luck

 

well i looped the wire and presto it worked, the strange part is the wire going to it is fine i did a test on it and it was good but whatever thanks a lot guys you helped a lot

 

what do you mean that you looped the wire im having this same exact issue the altenators not charging my battery at all altenator and battery are good i got them checked at autozone last night

 

I'd like to know this as well, since my car is having the same issue.

Thanks

 

ditto getting frustrated

 

Meant plug a wire to the back of the alt connect it to the battery.