Here is my problem. My old battery wouldn't hold a charge. I had the battery tested and it was bad. This was the factory battery, so I wasn't surprised. I got a new battery. This battery won't hold a charge either. I put this new battery in my other car and it charged up just fine. So the battery is good. How do I know if I need a new alternator or just a voltage regulator?

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'85 Z28 - black with gold trim - TPI 305 (pre-peanut cam 215hp) - Accel Super Coil - Accel 8.8mm wires - Morroso trans cooler - MSD-6A - Flowmaster exhaust - high flow cat - K&N filters - smog delete - 3.23 rear

'94 Camaro SC - medium patriot red metallic - 3.4L - Dynomax muffler - Z28 wheels

Sir John of the Loyal Order of Knights of the Legendary Cascade Crew

 

Take either your alternator or your car in to a NAPA store. They can run a check on it for you. The alternators are known to have faulty diodes in the bridged recitifier, also if you try to charge a dead battery with a good alternator, you stand a chance of buring the alternator up since it goes into a high current mode until the battery has sufficient volteage. Hope this helps.

 

OK, I took the alternator to NAPA and they said it was over charging!?!? Then how come my battery gage won't come out of the red? Also, is the alternator in my '85 compatable with the '94?

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'85 Z28 - black with gold trim - TPI 305 (pre-peanut cam 215hp) - Accel Super Coil - Accel 8.8mm wires - Morroso trans cooler - MSD-6A - Flowmaster exhaust - high flow cat - K&N filters - smog delete - 3.23 rear

'94 Camaro SC - medium patriot red metallic - 3.4L - Dynomax muffler - Z28 wheels

Sir John of the Loyal Order of Knights of the Legendary Cascade Crew

 

Chances are the alternator is junk. Charge your battery up and run it to a parts store that has a machine to test the whole system. Your 94 has a CS series alternator on it and I'm afraid that your 85 won't interchange. Look at the plugins on them to verify they're different. The voltage regulator is internal on both. It's not too bad to change the 85 style reg. but I've never tore a CS apart. Note to self:tear a CS apart someday!