Well as many of you probably know, I've been having an ongoing battle with my voltage. When I stop at a light.....it goes down...and when I accelerate it goes up to normal.

So yesterday my friend and I were driving to play hockey and I notice that my voltage is just chillin at about 11. It's not moving, even if I accelarate. So I'm thinking, no big deal!!! Then the b*tch starts decreasing. So by the time we got there....My voltage was almost in the red zone and for some reason my AirBag light was on. Just as I was pulling into the parking lot, my car stalled. I could not get it started on it's own so I had a buddy come jump me.....The voltage would stay at around 11 and as soon as he took the cables off it decreased and stalled. So a buddy came, we took off the alternator, and drove to autozone. They tested it and said it was 100% fine.

We put it back in and started looking for wiring issues......and after sooo much frustration, we realized that the gray wire connecting to the back of the alternator (with a nut) was disconnected on the other end. Now I originally had the other end of that wire grounded on a bolt designed for it near my headlights. On that same bolt, my + battery was grounded as well. I guess it's stock?

So my friends dad suggests that we connect the other end of it to the actual + battery post. So I did it and my car started. It's now back to the way it was (low volts at idle, and going to normal after accelerating).

My question is...Could this gray wire be too small of a gauge? It seems to be about 11 or 12 gauge. Also, if connecting it to the battery post is a bad idea? I'm thinking of I get a bigger size it might help my volts. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!! Thanks!

 

when i bought a 140 amp Powermaster alt.. it came with a wire to run direclty from the back on teh alt to the battery.. i think its about 10 guage or so.. ill see if i can go look this afternoon.. and post a pic of it so you get an idea what it looks like. hope this helps

 

Those symptoms sound like you're running underdrive pulleys. If you're not, then I don't know what to tell you...

 

ya check the pullies... here the pic as i promised in the earlier post

 

Hey thanks a lot man.....but how the hell do those connect? lol

 

the ground wasnt connected, you fixed it, things are fine, and you're wondering what the problem is?

 

the ground wasnt connected, you fixed it, things are fine, and you're wondering what the problem is?


If you had taken a better look at my post you would have realized that my problem is NOT fixed.

"So my friends dad suggests that we connect the other end of it to the actual + battery post. So I did it and my car started. It's now back to the way it was (low volts at idle, and going to normal after accelerating)."

Not only that, but my original question was about the guage wire. Next time take a better look before you make an unnecessary snotty comment.

 

theres a place on the back on the alt for that other end.

 

man you guys can be so touchy. i have an opposite problem or so i think. my maro charges at about 13.5 on the guage at idle but as rpm rises it drops, idunno. but it checks out under good when tested, it just bugs me cause i dont understand why it drops under acceleration and increases under decceleration. any guesses?

 

bgy the way is actually 8 guage .. found the catolog i ordered it in.

 

i have underdrive pulleys and mine dips to close to 8v when i am at idle!!! also i think i have a short somewhere because it used to drop only to around 10 or 11 then when i gfet moving it goes up to 13. i jusy need to spend time with a voltmeter and ohmmeter looking for a short!!

 

Thanks a lot guys.....Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time with that damn voltmeter