i decided to manually wire a cooling fan switch so the old connector is not connected to anything would this have any bearing on charging issues.? i've been reading up on charging issues and haven't found any one talking about this sorta of problem. i wired up the fan a couple of years ago and really didn't pay attention to this and i have had charging issues for the about the same amount of time but never put the two together. iv'e replaced the alternator 3 times with no good results and have just replaced the battery and still have issues. when i come to a stop the volts drop to 8 and when i give it gas it returns to a little below 13. last night i ran a new ground wire fron the battery to the inner fender cleaned up the surface with sandpaper and replaced the negative terminal with a new one, and i also cleaned the surface on the alternator and remounted the cable seems to charge a little better but if i turn on the lights the volts drop and when i rev it the alternator now squeals until the volts come to almost 13.

sorry for the long post just letting you guys know what i've done.. any ideas guys.??????? i'm stumped...

 

What "old wire" are you referring to that is not connected any longer?

The short answer is NO, not having your cooling fan connected will not affect charging., BUT

First you need to make sure you are not shorting to ground from any of your positive wires. Double check the plugs on the alternator make sure they are in good condition. Trace out all the wires associated with the charging system look for frays, splits, rubbing etc... Also remember that the alternator case is also its ground be sure the mounts are good and clean.

 

the reason i posted my question like that was i've been searching on charging problems and i thought i read that if your cooling fans weren't working you might have some sort of charging issue. so since mine wasn't hooked up to the factory wiring, i thought i would ask my question.. but now if the idle is low it the gauge hangs out around 8-9 volts and when i bring up the idle the alternator squeels until it hits 13 then charging is fine.........

 

There is a [(brown) not sure what color] or tan\wht wire that goes to the cooling fan that comes off of the alternator, it ties into the factory cooling fan relay. Look at a wiring diagram to see what I am referring to. As far as low volts at idle and belt squeak are your belts tight? I mean real tight. If they are, are the belts new, old? Do you have underdrive pulleys? These things could be possible causes.

 

ya underdrive pullies yup i have them. took them off and put the stock pullies back on much better charging.. charges back at 13 volts.. strange how you get acustomed to something and not even realize thats the culprit...they have been on for i'd have to say for 6 or so years when i installed them i knew they would drop my charging down, but oops i forgot about the outcome.. thanks for your input.. i apoligize for my mistake...

 

Glad the issue was resolved so quickly. Good job, nedoss. (btw, where in TX are you?)

I realize that this thread does not need any more advice but since the title is so very nicely descriptive, it will pop up in many searches on this topic.
So intentionally, I say here that another cause of the alternator not charging can be a blown fan fuse under the dash.

Hope this helps somebody in the future.
Lou