Z28er

here my story,got up yesterday morn no power whats so ever,put another battery in started it up the amps were running between 15-17 so i knew something wasn't right,ordered a new altenator cause i figured the voltage regulator was gone and was dis charging.which it was cause the neg battery cable was getting warm.put the new altenator on this eviong fired up the car the amps were running right,the car was running 2-4 min tops i put my hand on the altenator and it was pretty warm,so i shut down the car and it kept getting hotter and hotter so i unhooked the battery and not a clue what could be doing this,any ideas???

Apeiron

Those are volts, not amps. Its normal for the alternator to have to work harder to charge a low battery.

Z28er

its not the same battery that got ruined,its a different one,that i got from a buddy,but yeah it could be a lil down i'll go for a lil ride and see if it gets any hotter

Apeiron

Did you figure out what "killed" the first battery?

Z28er

well when i first hooked up the battery b4 changing the altenator the volts were jumping all over the place from 16-17 to 10 and back and forth,and when i changed the altenator its running at 12 at 1st now that i went for a rip its up on 13.

Air_Adam

Going from 12v up to only 13v is a BAD THING!! that means you are working the alternator too hard, and its only a matter of time before you burn it out.

Slow charge the new battery first, then try it. Even if the battery is new, its not always well charged. Using the alternator to bring up a low battery is a bad idea. Thats a quick way to fry an alternator.

Charge up the battery on a trickle charger for at least 2 days, then try it, because it sounds like its really low. If the battery goes dead over a couple days after charging, start checking for a drain - aftermarket stereo? Alarm system? Remote start? These are very common culprits when it comes to battery drains. Start with those if you have any of them.