hey i have a 1982 berlinetta v6 2.8l camaro and i was doing some work under the hood today and as i was putting everything back after i had finished, i forgot to plug a cable back into my alternator that gives it power . its the cable that you can remove from your alternator to get some extra horsepower but while thats happening your system wont charge. so i started the car and ran it for 5 minutes turned it off and the drove it to work, driving with this cable unplugged. after at work for 3 hours i went out to start my car because the winter kickes the **** out of my car, and i needed to warm it up( no block heater). i ran it for 10 minutes then came outside and move the car to a closer parking spot. after i got off work 4 hours later i came out to start the car, no luck the first try, then i started it on the second try. i let it warm up for 10 minutes, and then when i would rev the engine it would miss or go put put put something to that affect and then it would get past that and rev up normally after but each time it would miss when i started to rev the engine. i put my car in reverse backed up and my car made that same put noise all the while i backed up until it stalled. i tried boosting the car, and we tried starting it a couple times, and all we get is this rapid sort of clicking, not extremely rapid. i dont know what to do, some people said a starter maybe but i had a new one put in no more than a month ago, other say try boosting from another car instead of a power box, or some have said cylanoid, solenoid? i have not clue and im hoping someone can help shed some light on this thanks.

 

Did you ever hook the cable back up? You could've killed the battery. Batteries are already weaker in the extreme cold.

 

Charge the battery with something. A charger, or another car, and let it sit there charging for a good while before trying to start it; like, a half hour or so.

And don't forget to tighten up that one nut, you know that great big one that goes between the driver's seat and the steering wheel; maybe put some Loctite on it or something; so it doesn't work its way loose and bang around under the hood and knock stuff loose.

 

yes i reconnected the cable, so im thinking the battery might have died and needs charging, also does anyone have anyidea what that clicking noise or ticking might have been when i was trying to start my car?

 

Starter.

 

Yup, the starter is what makes the clicking noise.

The reason it makes it is because the battery is dead. It is NOT because the starter is bad.

 

thanks alot guys i really appreciate it im gunna go grab the battery tonight bring it inside to thaw and charge it and put it back tomorrow hope it goes well and thanks again

 

crack kills

 

It will work because the alternator is no longer charging the battery, thus not using any horsepower. It takes a few HP for the Alternator to generate electricity.

I am not saying that i would reccomend doing it, sounds stupid to me. But i can see how and why it works.

 

Thats just the wire that allows power to flow from the alternator to the battery. The three point connecter on top of the alternator is what actually tells it whether or not to engage.

 

No, the car stays running if you disconnect the alt because it is running off the battery.

Have you ever had an electric generator? Have you noticed how the engine speeds up faster when you plug more things into it? This is because the engine has to increase power output to compensate for the load, otherwise the engine would stall.

If you dont want to believe me, thats fine. I am not the one who doesnt understand how an alternator works. I am no longer going to try to educate the uneducated, I do enough of that at work.

 

The car runs if you disconnect the battery cable because the alternator is providing current. Disconnect both and your engine will die.

How about this. A simple experiment for the uneducated like you.

Take off your alternator belt and somehow rig an electric drill to your alternator pully. Use your drill to spin the alternator, watch it spin at full speed.

Now, go ahead and start up your car and turn your headlights on. Now try to spin that alternator. That drill motor probably will not be able to produce enough power to spin the alternator at high speed, its motor is not strong enough.

Why would this be? Shouldnt the drill be able to spin it at the same speed both times? No, this is because when the car is off, nothing is telling the alternator to generator current, therefor it spins very freely. Ever wonder what that little 3 or 4 plug connector that connects to the alternator does? This is what tells the alternator "Hey, i need power, give me more!"

This is the same plug the OP was talking about.

 

oh how does a one wire alt work if there is no"3 or 4 plug" to tell it to give power al oh mighty

 

but wait why does the wire go from the alt to the starer then battery

ever look at paper in alt box paper tells u what power is produced at what rpm from there its regulated

 

Hrm, i dunno.

I would assume it is so that you do not need 2 large wires connecting to the battery terminal.

By connecting it the way they do, you only need 1 wire connecting to the battery terminal. There is no technical reason that it must be that way.

Infact when i rewired my BMW (with an LT1 in it), i ran a line directly from the battery to the starter. I also ran a line directly from the alternator to the battery.

 

We mods obviously weren't watching this thread closely enough. If the posts don't seem to flow smoothly, I apologize, but I had to delete a bunch of off-topic, rules-violating posts.

As for the violators, I'll be watching you. You know who you are. If you don't know, go read the Board rules again and think about how you behaved in this thread.