Alright so I charged up the battery cause the volt meter I had showed it at 12v roughly so I charged it and when the meter finally stopped ticking down it stopped at 12.858v so I took the car out for a spin to see what would happen I took it 15 miles down the road and when I pulled into the Median to turn around the volts dropped down abit so I headed back to town and just between my neighbors driveway and mine it died rolled into the driveway. checked the volts after that and they started at 12.810v and climbed and stabled at 12.834v when it died I was going bout 12mph id say

Anyone got a clue what's going on here?

 

Did it start back up without a problem?

 

Yeap fired right back up

 

Anyone?

 

Do you have under drive pulleys?

 

Not sure the car has 7 total pulleys in front if need be I can take couple ppictures cause till now ive never heard of underdrive pulley

 

I would need pictures to tell you, basically of the alternator pulley and crank pulley. Also when under the hood make sure the belt is properly tight.

 

The belt was pretty tight didnt really get any slack out of it and here are 3 pictures

 

heres the pics

 

Crank looks like it may be under drive not sure on the alt. Need a picture out a little further. How long have you owned this car? Assuming the belt is in the operating area on the tensioner. This is due to under drive pulleys as the car heats up and the fan turns on and the other electrical stuff is on. The Alternator does not put out enough volts to keep supplying everything at low speeds or even idle. Due to being under driven which is a smaller than stock pulley on crank and a larger than stock on the Alternator. Note the smaller than stock pulley on crank will under drive the entire system alone. Either need a Alternator that puts out more amps at idle or return to stock pulleys.

 

Crank is which one middle picture top pulley with the thing on it?

 

Crank pulley is the pulley on the engine that drives all pulleys. It's the very bottom pulley.

 

aite here they are

 

Almost sure that is a under drive pulley. Not so sure on the alternator as that was the pulley I asked for more pictures of but out a little further to see pulley size in comparison to alt. How long have you owned this car? Best bet would be to bring Alternator somewhere where it can be tested. If it tests okay then you know its the under drive pulley. This is again assuming the tensioner is good and in operating range. There is a indicator on the top of the tensioner arm. 12.8 volts really is not enough volts it should be higher than that.

 

o sorry ill go get one of the alternator and ive had the car about 2 years and how you test the alternator my bro might have what i need to test it

 

if thats not out far enough ill grab another

 

And you never had a problem before with the voltage dropping? Best way to test the Alternator is to bring it to advance or auto zone or one of the other places that can properly test it. As they will spin it a certain rpm and load test it. You can with the car running hook volt meter to battery and check the voltage. You did this already and.. 12.8 volts really is not enough with all the electrical stuff off. This could be due to being under driven. Alternator starting to go bad or belt slipping or combination of these. This also assuming you have good clean electrical connections at battery and Alternator.

 

Alternator pulley looks stock, your belt is too lose.

 

The wire from the alt to the battery is new...and that third pic is what i thought to be the tension arm and ive never had the car running with the volt meter on it its been off when i tested the battery

 

Get a tighter belt then put voltage meter on battery with car running to see if there is a increase in voltage. 12.8 is a good voltage on your battery, battery itself should be good. Should see more than 12.8 with car running. I assume the person you bought the car from or someone before that put a under drive crank pulley on it and didn't take the time to find the right size belt. Belt should be shorter than the one that's on it.

 

I took it out for a bit more numbers when i first started it up it was at 14.400v-14.600v i took it down the road 10 miles or so to get the fans running. It didnt die on me this time but it was wanting to when i got back. When i tested it when i got back with the car running headlights on fans running and the pbrake while in gear it was at 12.800v...12.500v with the lights on fan running in gear and the brake held in...it was at 14.000v with the fans running lights on and in park

and yea i wouldnt doubt they didnt take the time as the rest of the stuff ive had to fix has been monkey f**ked up

And i wont be in town majority of the week to work on it but when i get home later this week ill put something back on here to get going on it again

 

Start with tighter belt it will probably fix your issue. Please do not test while in gear. This belt will be shorter than a stock belt as the under drive pulley on crank is smaller than stock. You may be able to do a search and find on this sight the right size belt numerically.

 

With the new belt installed the little line in between the two triangles on the stationary part of the tensioner is your pointer. That pointer should line up with the first line on the right in between the two triangles on the tensioner arm. After driving for a while the new belt will stretch some and the pointer should be somewhere in the rectangular box this is basically operating range.

 

Here is a picture of what I was telling you, writing is kinda small though.

 

Aite thanks man when i get home this weekend ill have to get the belt and swap it over ill let you know what i come up with or if i got any questions...do i need anything special to swap the belt?

 

I believe you need a half inch ratchet or breaker bar. What ever the square size is on the tensioner arm. Can't remember off the top of my head and not around my car right now. But insert tool into square on arm and relieve the tensioner pressure by turning and holding it some. Then slip off one of near by pulleys. Then reinstall new in reverse order following the belt routing diagram on the car.

 

I did a search on here trying to find the belt size to replace but couldnt come up with anything. The stock one is 95.077 is the outside Circumference is what i found would a 2 or 1 inches shorter belt work?

 

I can remember exactly as it has been a long time since I put underdrive pulley on my car. Best bet bring the tool you need with you to auto store, and do it right in the parking lot. That way if you need shorter then just bring it back in and swap it. Could be a inch, half inch, inch and a half, two inches I don't know.

 

well i replaced the belt with one that pulled the tensioner all the way to the other side like you said on that belt for a new one and it still died on me when i spun it around in the medium but when coming down the road it didnt die but was droping volts

 

With a underdrive pulley you will see some voltage drop at low speed and as the car gets hot too. If its to the point of where the vehicle dies then that is a issue. I would clean all contacts at battery and alternator and reinstall making sure everything is tight. Clean the engine ground and engine block where it attaches to the engine and reinstall. If wires are old they may have too high resistance. From what you told me before I don't think your alternator is bad however it couldn't hurt to have it tested. When the car is at higher rpm you don't have any voltage problems right?

 

If getting the alternator tested, it can't hurt to have the battery load tested also.

 

aite when i get home later this week ill check the wires first and then the alt and battery and no i havent had any volt problems at high rpms

 

Almost willing to bet if you swapped out the crank pulley for a stock one that your problems will go away. You will see some voltage drop at low rpms like idle when car is hot. But probably not low enough to stall it out. Remember if you do this that you will probably need to put the old loose belt back on it. With stock pulley willing to bet it fits perfect. However it can't hurt to have the alt. and battery checked out plus wires checked out too.

 

i am having the same problem - i definitely have an underdrive pulley. also at many times in idle - the entire car's electronics can fade in and out a little. there are a few electronics like a boost gauge that keeps shutting down when the voltage drops too low. i'm sure i could put a voltage regulator w capacitor on a few of the components, but im wondering if it would be a benefit to put a large cap on the entire electrical system?

 

I think you guys should really check your belt tensioner as well. I had this exact problem. I changed the tensioner and now its gone. I also had an intermittent belt squeal at idle, and that is also gone.

Just throwing this out there. I kept exercising the tensioner underhood and I was sure it was good. Apparently it was failing under load. Eventually it caused the inboard bolt to fall out and then on a whim I changed it. No more low voltage problems at idle ever after.