1984 Camaro Z28 305ci 5.0L Carb.

The car stalled on the side of the road very quietly last week and I could not get it restarted. Upon looking at my battery gauge it read with a level below quarter charge (even with my hazards flashing it would dip with each flash). After waiting a little I got it to start but it ran for about 10 seconds and stalled once again and I even watched my battery level fall as it ran for that short amount of time.

My friends and even the tow truck guy diagnosed it as an alternator problem.

So today I replaced the alternator and gave it a try knowing the battery was probably drained because of the load it was under after the alternator stopped working. It started, ran for few seconds and stalled (twice). Btw, the battery is from 5/06. I took the battery to get tested and it turned out to be at 50% charge. I got it charged, took it home and reconnected it to my car. However I am still not getting the car to start. It will crank and crank but not turn over.

With the key half turned my battery level now reads just above quarter charge (about 10 or 11 volts?) and when I go to start it drops into the orange at about 8 volts. Is this normal?

I guess my question is: Can a battery be damaged by being forced to hold the current when the Alternator stops working? Does anyone think that a brand new battery may solve the problem?

I am pretty sure this is an electrical issue seeing that my battery was drained to a 50% charge.

Please give me any feedback you can.
Thanks.

 

First an alternator isn't intended to recharge a dead battery just to maintain one.That's why a lot of people recommend changing both at the same time if possible.And yes you can overheat a battery.Check you battery cables and chassis grounds.Also I would take a look at the starter.Although it shouldn't cause a stall(I won't say wouldn't because anything is possible)it will cause a battery drain in starting.But your stalling sounds similar to the problem i just had with my '95 Jimmy.She would start run rough and then die.The culprit was the pickup coil in the distributor.

 

How OLD is the battery? and is the alt. the correct replacement?
I think the one I replaced is 110 amp. or so. you should have 14.3 volts or better at the battery while running. Make sure the battery is the correct size for your app. also. When I replace any battery in my cars I alway find the biggest cc/amps I can fit in the battery box. It may cost a little more but headache relief is pricless!

 

The battery is from May 2006, at least thats what the sticker on the side of the battery says. Though I don't know how much to trust a "ValueCraft" battery (not by choice, its been in there since I bought the car last summer). Could it have been weakened when the alternator died? The alternator is the direct replacement, it looks exactly like my old one too. Should I be getting 14.3 volts when I turn the key half way? Cause when I do that i'm getting about 10-12 and I crank the engine it shoots down to the red. Somebody told me that was normal but I don't believe it. That same person told me that if the car is cranking then there is no problem with the battery but I seem to think that it just isn't pumping out enough to turn it over.

 

i replaced my alt and still had the exact psame prob as you then about 1 week later of troubleshooting i change the alt again and it fixed it.

 

I bought my form. from the Daughter-in-law but the step son who is a shade tree wizard had actually spliced the pos. cable and wraped it with elec. tape.
After I found that and replaced it with a new onw one I couldn't believe how much faster the car cranked and started. Might want to check the connections at both ends and be sure their clean and tight.

 

Well this alternator has a "lifetime warranty". Would you suggest I just go back and get it replaced?

 

Quote:

Should I be getting 14.3 volts when I turn the key half way? Cause when I do that i'm getting about 10-12 and I crank the engine it shoots down to the red. Somebody told me that was normal but I don't believe it. That same person told me that if the car is cranking then there is no problem with the battery but I seem to think that it just isn't pumping out enough to turn it over.
This is something you can lay to rest by checking out any car with a amp meter.

Key half turned is not an ignition position use Accessory (ACC,) Off, Run, or Start.
Because there are four positions half-way would be between Off and Run, So is it Off, or Run? We assume it's in the "Run" position, but we don't like to assume anything.

 

i got mine at autozone and it ran good on 5 different test benches but they could not tell me power output. i would recommend changing it out and take the battery up with you and have it tested and charged.

 

Okay, i'll rephrase myself. The key is in the Run position.
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I had the battery tested and charged but I didnt think of anything about the alternator since it's new, I figured I could trust it.

 

With the key in the on pos. you should have 12v showing on your volt gauge. after your start it, you should show 14v + period! any less, the alt is not working right. Less than 12v in the on poss. means the battery has a low charge either from the battery condition (which you say is fairly new) or low alt. output. Try and start the engine and turn on all accesories(lights, heater fan, ect.) and see what it says then. If it's not showing 14v at idle or just above, the alt. is crap!

 

Thats great but I need to get it started first to see what its level is at idle. Just before I had these problems the gauge would read normally, centered, like usual. But I noticed that if I turn my heat fan on high it would drop. So maybe the alternator was the problem in the first place but I still don't know why I cant get that damn thing to start!

 

[quote=InsomniacZ28;3213998 Should I be getting 14.3 volts when I turn the key half way? Cause when I do that i'm getting about 10-12 and I crank the engine it shoots down to the red. Somebody told me that was normal but I don't believe it. That same person told me that if the car is cranking then there is no problem with the battery but I seem to think that it just isn't pumping out enough to turn it over.[/quote]

ideally, your battery should hold 11.5 to 12.8 volts just sitting there. running, the alternator will charge at 13.8 to 14.5 volts, any less means you have a bad alt. or bad wiring between the alt. and the battery. how are you checking the battery state of charge? with the gauge or with a multi meter? you should check it with a meter. gauges arent always accurate. now, when you turn the key to the accessory or run position and take a reading off of the battery it should still be in that 11.5 - 12.8 range. when starting you will see the battery charge dip down to 8 or 9 volts. as soon as it starts the battery charge will return to 12 volts (14v under charge) this is NORMAL. theres nothing wrong with the system. a starter pulls a hell of alot of amperage.

furthermore, a dead or nearly dead battery can still have the potential to turn the engine over. just because itll turn the engine over dont mean itll start the car.



smith
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where in PA are you? i'm in allentown.


smith

 

Have you tried to jump it from another car/battery? Is the starter turning the motor?

 

Well said riotpolice.The guys on here are giving you alot of good information.It is normal for volts to drop around 10volts when cranking(when trying to actually start car-key all the way turned).You will need to use a volt meter to trouble shoot this.If it were my car here is where I would start.

1.Use your volt meter to check the battery voltage at the battery posts(should be at least 12.4volts if not charge it).
2.While holding your positive lead on the meter to the positive post on the battery-take the negative lead on your meter and touch the chassis(this is testing the chassis ground).It should read the same volts as test 1 or close.
3.Now take your meter and hold the pos lead to pos post on battery and put
neg lead on the engine(any decent grounding point on engine).This will test
your engine to chassis ground and it should read same volts or close to as
test 1. and 2.

 

Another thing to check is volts at the alternator post(not running it should read same volts or very close to the readings at the battery(this will help check the line from alternator to battery).

 

Oh and just so we are clear, if your battery tested good and has a good charge(12.4 volts minimum), then a bad alternator at this point will not cause a no run condition.If all of the above tests good then I would go back to the simple things.If a car cranks but won't start do you have fuel(spray a small amount of ether in the carb, or pour a small amount of gas).Do you have spark(pull a plug wire off and check).Sometimes we over complicate things.Anyway Good luck and let us know what you find out.

 

Low voltage will increase amp draw. Wouldn't hurt to check all your fuses too.

And don't use that wavy thing in the dash to check your voltage. It's for amusement purposes only.

 

I'm in Willow Grove, just by the mall.
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We originally tried jumping it with another car in the first place.
With the key turned to 'run' I will get a clicking sound like normal and when I crank the engine it just wont fire. Like I said, it started twice after we replaced the alternator but then just shut off about 5-10 seconds later.

 

first check cables and ends, a good ground is important.

sometime once a battery goes so low it will not charge back up.
Why they have a warranty. But 2-3 years is its built lifetime for regular old car battries.They offer longer warranties but after 2-3 years the pro-rated value is nill. But they can fail early so why they do equal swaps for 2-3 years.

What alt did you get? get the 108amp upgrade one form like AZ or bigger from a catalog if you run a system of even just a few 100watts.

Id also go to a deep cycle marine battery. It is no different, will work just fine in your car. But they have a much higher load reserve time. You can then play you radio for hrs and it still starts later, or your flashers Same way you can run fish finders and equipment all day but still turns over a monster V8 in a boat or even duals.

 

The alternator I bought was a ProStart remanufactured alternator from pep boys. They never gave me the amp rating or anything. If its a direct replacement anything should work, right? Anyway, it has a "lifetime warranty" so I could probably return or exchange it if my problems still point to the alternator.

I gave my battery to Pep Boys for them to check it and it was at a 50% charge. So they charged it and gave it back to me. APPARENTLY its "fully" charged now.

 

 

try this
Battery dead cell check
http://www.viragotech.com/fixit/deadcell.html

 

If it's turning over and not starting check for fuel and spark. Don't worry about your battery and alternator yet-you've tried to jump it and it cranks but won't start. You say you smell fuel so check for spark first. Pull a wire and place something in the plug boot like a metal screwdriver blade, hold the screwdriver blade about 1/4" from the block by the insulated handle. You should see a spark jump the 1/4" gap when the engine is cranked.

Did you check all of your fuses? Is your M/C solenoid clicking with ignition in run? Choke open or shut?

 

Is your car fuel injected? I have flooded mine w/throttle body inj. and the only way I could restart it was unplug the fuel injectors on the throttle body and crank it till it fired up and died. I then reconnected the inj. and it started and ran ok. One thing I've found is if one plug goes bad, everything screws up! The computer tries to compensate for the rich condition smelled by the O-2 sensor from the misfire and if you keep driving it the rest of the plugs (usually on the same bank) will start fouling one by one causing a no start condition and a rich fuel smell. If you check for spark at the plugs and it's good you might want to try a new set of plugs especialy after a lot of cranking and no start and soaking the plugs with fuel.

 

i got family up 611 on almshouse rd. i know right where your at.



smith