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91' Firebird: Am I doing it wrong? Previous owner charging troubles.
Hey guys, I have a 1991 firebird that was a VIN E 305 car with 700r4... A nice humble refreshed 350ci sbc was dropped in it and it runs pretty great!
Except the other day, the volt gauge in the interior started reading 8-9v... I took out my multimeter and read the battery, it gave me a reading of 12.56 and dropping, .55,.54. So naturally I ripped the alternator out
This is my unit as far as i can tell; and tested it at my work. (adv auto parts)
It passed with flying colors.
Which leads me to the... Uh *cough* "Wiring" where I'm now 100% sure the problem lies,
So besides the obvious, replace that dual female blade connector and splices, how should I wire the alternator to the car? I'm not sure if you can tell but the alternator has the neg battery cable, a red wire on the rear, and the one red wire on the blade connector. The brown/black wire is cut short.
If it is wired up right could the battery be at fault?
When I put the car away last fall the gauge showed 14 when running as it should have.
Re: 91' Firebird: Am I doing it wrong? Previous owner charging troubles.
No problem for the bump ....
All you need to do is to find a source of +12 Volts when the key is on . The starter isn't a good candidate because it's two lugs are #1 the big one = positive 12 volts at all times , and #2 , the little one , which only gets +12 when your actually engaging the starter .
I looked at the schematic for 1991 and your right that the brown wire from the alternator IS supposed to be connected to the brown wire on the fan relay . I would hook that back up , make sure there is 12V with the key on (if not I'd check the fan fuse) and if you've got 12V on the brown start it up and verify 14 ish volts at the battery . If so , call it fixed
Last edited by OrangeBird; Mar 18, 2015 at 04:25 PM.
Reason: typos
No problem for the bump ....
All you need to do is to find a source of +12 Volts when the key is on . The starter isn't a good candidate because it's two lugs are #1 the big one = positive 12 volts at all times , and #2 , the little one , which only gets +12 when your actually engaging the starter . 
