This is odd, at first my battery was draining while started so i assumed it was the alternator because the previous owner threw one he had laying around in. So i swapped it for a new alternator. The battery still is not being recharged and when i turn on the lights or anything electrical the voltage meter drops slightly. Im gonna go through the grounds with a wire brush however, would anything else cause this? I ve heard of this dummy alternator light on the gauge cluster being the cause sometimes. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!!

I should mention that the battery threads were stripped a little by the previous owner.. great job ruining a new battery. I seemed to have made a temporary fix but its still not charging. Im thinking new terminals and battery, if that doesnt work im really out of ideas.

 

Check the charger wire with a voltmeter. Just to make sure you've got a good connection from the alt to the battery.

 

Have battery and alternator tested - any parts store will do it in the car for free. Badf alternator can kill a battery, and a bad battery can kill an alternator. And "new" alternator doesn't guarantee "good" alternator - I've bought plenty of new parts that were bad, including alternators.

 

Try this, measure the battery voltage with the car off. It should be like 12V. Then start the car and remeasure the voltage it should now be like 14 V. If its not the charging system isnt working. Check that and well dig a little deeper depending on the results.

 

electric seat motors and cig lighter sockets can get gunky and drain power from the system, was a rash of hotrod fires a few years back from folks keeping orginal cig lighter sockets in the car.

So can a "miss" wired stereo system, if it has a re-moveable face plate, remove it every time. Most now are like a PC where it a soft power.

[On in my V8 car is like that, its wired hot on purpose [no keys needed to ROCK!!!] but even when its "off" its not, face plate has to be removed for a hard off.]

 

Finally got it straightened out after 4 days. Turns out one of the fuseable links were frayed, spliced in some new wire temporarily and shes recharging now. Phew