my volt gague on my car is at little below the 13 mark in between the the other white mark before the red. It used to be above the the 13 mark a while ago then like the last couple of days it was on 13 or like a tiny bit below now today i went to start it and when it runs it is half way down off 13 volts. My battery isn't even a month old either. could this be my alternator. also a like a month ago the choke light went on then it went off. today when i started it went on. the car starts fine though with no problems. it is just the volt gague that is getting me.
any ideas appericated

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86 Z28:
350 vette
aluminum heads
T-5
235/60R15 BFgoodriches
dual 3"flowmaster exhaust
20% tint
hatch wing
2 12"kicker solos
300 watt Sony xplod amp
Sony xplod deck
K&N air filter

 

Here's one vote for the alternator..

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89 iroc-z 305 tbi
k&n filtercharger, open element air filter. nuffin' else

 

Take a volt meter and check across the battery when the car isn't running. It should read very close to 12V. Start the car up and then try it. If it is the same as with the car off then chances are your alternator is bad. If you get a low reading with the car off you might have a bad battery. Probably the alternator though. At least they are really easy and cheap to fix.

 

Hey,
The exact SAME thing happened to me about a month ago... My cousin works at autozone and told me to bring my battery in to get i checked.... the test said it was a very bad battery.... so i bought a new one... the next day... the car just died again (battery ran out of juice) so i put on an alternator and it has worked fine since.... but my problems happened all at once... and it did what you are talking about with the 13 volts guage... now im running right above 13 like i use to.........
ONE HUGE VOTE for bad alternator~!

 

The "Choke" light is also the "Alternator" light. It therefore sounds to me like there's something intermittent in your charging system, although it's apparently working enough of the time to keep the battery from getting drained. If not the alternator, you may have a wiring problem somewhere.

The volt gauge isn't accurate at all. I'd watch for a change in its behavior, rather than an absolute value of its indication, to tell whether there's a problem or not. It's like the tach: it's not an "instrument" grade part by any means, the factory regards those as merely a "trim package". They are garbage.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

i think the wiring is fine. most likley it is my alternator it is liek 2-3 years old. How long do they usually last? lately the voltgague has be jumping around and today it was lower than 13 last summer it used to be above 13. I guess it is just charging the battery enough but i will mostly likely get it changed cause i don't want to get stuck?
How much do alternators go for?
thanx for the help!!!

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86 Z28:
350 vette
aluminum heads
T-5
235/60R15 BFgoodriches
dual 3"flowmaster exhaust
20% tint
hatch wing
2 12"kicker solos
300 watt Sony xplod amp
Sony xplod deck
K&N air filter

 

check the altenator and battery being a GM product,it's problely that simple.

 

ok it seems that my voltgague is dropping lower and lower. i went to get an alternator and the guy told me 80$ and another 30 for the core and with tax it would be like 130.00 does this sound to much for an alternator. im gonna get it tested tommorrow.

------------------
86 Z28:
350 vette
aluminum heads
T-5
235/60R15 BFgoodriches
dual 3"flowmaster exhaust
20% tint
hatch wing
2 12"kicker solos
300 watt Sony xplod amp
Sony xplod deck
K&N air filter