Hello all,

this is my first post here, and I don't know where else to look for answers.

I'm working on a 92 Camaro RS 305 that will start and run if jumped, but will stall out shortly after the jumper cables are removed. My first thought was bad alternator, but I had it tested, and it passed 3 times. Also, the battery is less than 6 months old.

Another thought was a bad voltage regulator, but i don't know the first thing about finding or replacing that

Any suggestions or tips would be much appreciated! thanks in advance!

-siegemode

P.S.
the camaro:

 

Have you tested the battery? Even though it's not old, it could still be bad. What brand?

 

dont trust the alternator testors bro, those only look at a certain extent for passing. i would start by checking to see if the brushes are good on the alternator (no chips or nothing). i had a car that had a chipped brush but it would pass on the alternator test beaause they dont take much power to pass but a car is in much more demand of power.

 

I havent had the battery Tested yet, but the car should still run even without a battery if the alternator is good

Also it is a duralast battery from autozone

 

I forgot to mention I tried a new alternator with the same results

 

you should, before swapping stuff around, check all your connections. block to firewall, neg batt cable to block, ect. make sure the VR plug is clean and no broken wires. make sure VR plug is fully seated and making contact. even light surface corrosion between 2 mating surfaces can cause electrical system issues.

 

okay so I've been doing some more research on this, and apparently the voltage regulator is built into the alternator. Since I replaced the alternator with a new (re-manufactured) alternator, and still had the same issue, that should rule out the voltage regulator as a culprit. Now I'm totally at a loss for what could be causing this issue.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

As far as I can tell, all connections are secure, all connectors seated properly, etc.

It seems as though the alternator isn't providing power to the rest of the vehicle because the car will start and run fine when hooked up to another vehicle via jumper cables, but when disconnected, it will run for ~1 minute or so before stalling out (I assume this is because the battery runs out of charge from the jump).

Same thing happened when I swapped in a new alternator.

Also, I don't have a multimeter so I can't check voltages or continuity

Still stumped on this

 

When my car was carb'd, same thing happened to me. New battery, new alternator, still died after the juice from the battery ran out. Turned out to be a broken/corroded signal wire (sorry if that's not the correct term) that looked ok on the sheething outside.

This probably isn't the right way, but I got it home by using a jumper wire. I'd start the car, put one end of the wire to a hot and touched the other end to the alternator signal input. It told the alt to start charging. All it took was a touch (and a spark!), and then the jumper was removed. Did this until I replaced that section of wire.

I can't remember if the TPI and older style alternators are the same. Hope this helps.

*edit* Charged the battery, started the car and put a voltmeter to it. If it goes down, then the alt isn't putting out charge. Did the jumper, voltmeter read 14 or whatever it's suppoesed to.

 

get your self a DMM or analog. i sell a cheap DMM for $12.00. it isnt great but it gets the job done and its what you need to fix this.

 

can you be more specific about the jumper wire? Where is the alternator signal input? is that the stud with a single wire running to it?

 

Does your gauge indicate charging? The alternator probably works fine ,but the wiring somewhere is wrong. Check your fuses. Some of hte fuses will prevent the alt from charging if you remove them, like the VATS fuse.

 

Thank you to all who responded. Turns out, it was a bad fan fuse lol.

I figured it out after reading This Thread. Replaced the fuse, jumped it one last time, and everything was back to normal. So far I've spent over $100 trying to fix a problem ultimately solved by a $2 pack of fuses.

 

a fan fuse? over and over again as i learn about these cars i think to myself "self- WHAT THE F&*# WAS THE GENERAL SMOKING?!?!?!?!"

 

Now taht I think about it, that's what my deal was too. I converted to carb, ran my fan off a switch + new relay, and pulled hte fan fuse to use it as a 12v source for the switch...

Alternator didnt charge for days before I finally traced it back down to that.

Removing the vats fuse wont let the car start, which sounds normal, except that I had no ECM in the car anymore, all carb. I suppose the ignition switch wiring runs through the VATS module somehow, since the starter never got power.

I learned my lesson and left all those fuses alone after those two experiments.