I am having a problem with my charging system.

Ever since my alternator blew the bearings out the back and I replaced it there has been a huge power issue with my 92' Firebird.

It never gets over 13 volts I have replaced the battery 4 times and the alternator 3 times. This includes last night where I also replaced the starter.

Could I have a bad ground? Has anyone else had a similar issue like this? Or is it old parts pulling more power to function? The starter was fried by the way after I got done I took it back to the parts store for recycling we threw it on the tester and it kept blowing the circuit breaker.

Any help would be great as I'm out of ideas...

Thanks

 

Anyone?

 

Something could have melted together when your alternator blew. Not exactly sure what with not being there. When you hook up the battery without anything being on, door closed and such, do you get sparks at your battery terminals indicating something is drawing juice?

 

Have you tried checking it with a multi meter and not the dash gauge?

 

put a test light between the negative battery terminal and ground cable. if it lights up you have a draw, pull fuses until you find where the draw is then go from there. that's what I did. turns out it was a rogue interior light in the trunk that had fallen down behind the plastic and I couldn't see it lighting up

 

I would start with grounds first, it just take a few minutes and it's free. Make sure all are clean, rust free and tight.

I've seen broken ground wires, inside the insulation, with the outside completely intact. The older cables on our gen cars are thicker and prone to breakage. If you grenades your alt, I'd venture to guess one or both alt cables were injured in the explosion.

After checking the above items, start the car and meter the voltage, first at the alt, then the battery. If you have higher voltage at alt, you have a bad cable/ cables.

Hope this helps!

Good luck!

 

Thank you, I'll be checking this weekend and report if I find anything...