Here's a problem I've never encountered b4. Every now and then my voltage would spike up to 17 volts. The car threw a code I believe it was 53. I changed the alternator and all was fine till about a week later the same thing happened. Any thoughts?

 

Yep .

My thought is that somewhere in the wire between your alternator and battery you have a poor connection , and when that connection goes open , the volts skyrocket cause youv'e got no battery loading down the alternator . Check the wire from the big terminal on the alt. to the Pos. terminal on the battery , and I'll bet ya find a bad connection (corroded , loose , etc) in there .

Good Luck

 

Very interesting. Will do. Thanks guy

 

Irocnit2 did this solve your overvoltage issue? My T/A is doing exactly the same thing, I also changed out the alternator and it was ok for a few days, is voltage regulated only by the alternator or does the ecm play a part also?

 

I think I have. The other day I went to start my car and nothing. Totally dead. I tested the battery and it was reading 12 volts. So I disconnected the wires going to the posative and negative cleaned them up and one of the wires that connects to the posative side looked kinda frayed and didn't really look like a good tight connection. So I cut off and inch, restripped and re-terminated the wire. Car started right up and no high voltage readings.

 

Voltage should be regulated by the alternator I believe.

 

Voltage should be regulated by the alternator I believe.

 

I stand corrected. Upon start up today voltage gauge pinned out at 18 volts for about 45 seconds then leveled out around 14. Makes me think- sometimes at start up I get a puff of white smoke from my tail pipes. I wonder if these two issues are somehow related. I only hope I can fix this before my battery turns into an acid grenade lol

 

Any luck Irocinit? I connected my multitester to the alt and it's spiking up to 18.xx volts, so I tried wiggling some wires while watching the volts, my problem may lie in the wire harness running from the alt to the starter, or down near the fans, I'm getting worried that somethings going to get fried soon. Good luck man

 

Hey man no luck yet. Haven't had a chance to mess with it but voltage has been reading normal. It seems to happen once every few days. Intermitten problems suck

 

Ok how's this for bizzare- I had a few minutes to check things out today so I pulled out my wiring diagram and multimeter. I pulled the 3 wire plug off the alternator. (Brown black and red) I went to test the red wire to see if it had continuity to ground ( according to wire diagram it Shouldn't. I runs from the alternator to a fusible link then to the starter) my meter starts beeping which would indicate a short. So I'm thinking this has to be the problem. So a few minutes later I test it again and this time there's no short! Wat I realize is that if I place the black test lead on the red wire and the red test lead to ground it shows a short however if I place the red test lead on the red wire and the black test lead to ground there is no short. Btw there's nothing wrong with the meter. I'm so lost here

 

Climbed under the car today and found some scary looking wiring by the starter. Made some repairs and some nice tight clean splices. And now,...........problem seems worse. Reading 18 volts almost constantly except when I'm stuck at a red light when it drops to 14.

 

Also went to local auto parts store they tested my Battery and alternator. Both checked out fine

 

Do these old volt gauges even read correctly anymore? Is there any way to independently test the voltage maybe?

 

I was thinkin the same. Maybe the gauge is just on the fritz. But the other night wen my voltage spiked my lights got very bright so it can just be the gauge

 

Problem solved! There was a wire that I missed. It goes to the starter, I believe it was red. Anyhow the insulation was cracked and it was shorting out. I just cut the wire, spliced on a fresh one and reconnected it to the starter. Voltage holding beautifully.

 

The red wire that goess from battery to starter?

 

No. I'm not sure where it goes. I'm assuming the alternator. It looks like a 14 ga. Wire it comes off the started then heads off into a wire loom along with a bunch of other wires