First off I just want to say that I am new to all of this so please bare with me. I recently sold my 05 mustang and purchased my first Chevy Camaro it's an 82 with a 305 v8 engine. When I first saw this car I fell in love the appearance on the inside and outside looks great! Little did I know what journey I would be headed into getting this vehicle. When we first started the vehicle with the seller we found that the water pump was bad so we changed that out first thought that would be the end of it...WRONG. After only driving it for a few days I noticed on my volt meter that it was slowly going down from 13volts to 8volts for some reason or another even when I would put the battery on a battery charger and it would have a full charge I would start the car up and in a matter of minutes the volt meter would go right back down to 8 volts. At first I thought maybe it was a loose connection to the negative wire of the battery because it was loose but after tightening it up it went back down to 8 volts again. The battery and alternator have both been checked and they both check out fine there are a few things that we have attempted to try and we even got another alternator from autozone and that didn't work either of course the only thing that I don't like now a days is everything is remanufactered it is hard to find a brand new alternator. So, my husband took out a few fuses in the fuse box and the battery and alternator seemed to be getting a good charge unfortunately he didn't know which ones he pulled. As I was driving it to work this morning and filled up at the gas station went in to start my car with no success couldn't even get it started with the jump start it finally took some time but it started right back up. When we did get this car the seller did mention a custom made alarm system and he said it was possible it was pulling a lot of amps which would make sense but we have no idea where the alarm system is or how it was installed but something is pulling a lot of amps and not giving enough juice to the battery and alternator and every time we check the alternator it says that it's not putting out enough volts when the tests at auto parts store told different. I ordered a brand new alternator off ebay that has 200 amps in it so my plan is to put that on and see if that will help the problem but what my husband and I were wondering is why would a camaro with stock parts not be able to keep on with voltage and amps if anyone has any ideas on what is draining the battery and alternator please let me know and also my choke light is staying on im not sure if that has to do with the fact that my husband pulled some fuses out or that the alternator isn't working correct either way please let me know because this is driving me crazy!

 

Make sure the warning light on the dash, labeled "Choke", comes on when you turn the key on but don't start the engine. If it doesn't, replace the bulb.

 

Well, I haven't thought about doing that but I will do that but I was just wondering if it could be because of the alternator or because my husband may have taken out the fuse for it.

 

Welcome Aboard!

I have a couple suggestions before responding. First, try to use the default font for posting. That makes your input easier to read and follow.

Next, look along the top of the page at the banner, and note the SEARCH link there. The search tool can be very useful for finding information and similar threads.

As for the charging system, the CHOKE light is part of the charging circuit and was intended to indicate that alternator output was insufficient to operate some of the engine and body circuits (including the electric choke heater). It would have been better labeled as a BATTERY or CHARGE indicator, but that's not what they chose.

When the CHOKE light is on, the alternator is not getting output (charge) to the vehicle electrical system. That may mean a failed alternator, or may mean a wiring problem. Since your alternator has already been removed and bench tested, I'd suspect it is not at fault.

Aftermarket alarm, remote start, and other convenience systems are usually marginal quality, and even if built as a quality item, are frequently installed in an amateurish manner which comes back to haunt the owner in a few years.

If you intend to keep the vehicle and want it to be reliable, my advice would be to locate whatever system was installed, remove it - ALL of it, and throw it in your fireplace, trash bin, septic tank, or wherever it can go so that you are never tempted to consider touching it again.

After removing the add-on system(s), repair the factory wire harness to its original condition, meaning removing all the taps/compression splices that might have been installed with the add-on device and soldering and insulating the connections just like the factory did. That step alone may solve your problems. Unfortunately, that can be a time-consuming effort since these things are rarely documented and if there were any documentation it likely did not get transferred to you when getting the vehicle.

 

You mentioned the CHOKE light is on constantly, so the fuse which feeds it, a 10A fuse in the "ECM-IGN" position, is probably in place. However, it would be good to verify that a 10A fuse is also installed in the "C-H" position in the fuse panel. That operates the choke heater relay, and without it the lamp will remain on. There are other reasons the lamp can remain on, but the fuse must be there first.

 

Okay, thanks Vader I appreciate the future reference when using the forums. Also about your advice have thought about getting rid of the alarm system but as you said you're right it is a time consuming process. My plan is I bought a new alternator from ebay it has 200 amps put that in and hopefully that should do the trick to be able to handle whatever it is that is being pulled. Waiting for that to come in will let everyone know how that goes. Thanks everyone

 

This is about what should be installed:

 

That may or may not work, and, quite frankly, I fear it won't. If there is something requiring more than the original alternator (65-85A) cannot satisfy, the fusible links in the wiring harness probably won't tolerate it very long. In fact, one or more may have already failed or become resistive, creating the situation you are experiencing.

The easy things to check are the positive battery connections to the starter, the auxiliary positive wire to the chassis harness, and the fusible links at the starter. It is also important to have the negative battery cable connection to the engine intact, as well as the auxiliary negative connection to the chassis, and the braided ground strap(s) from the engine to the subframe rail and/or firewall intact. A missing or broken ground strap could potentially create such a rogue problem, since it seems that the charging system initially maintains voltage then falls off.

 

I would check the wiring from the alternator to the battery cable.

 

your voltmeter is dropping because the battery is being drained or the alternator is not coming on..

You need to check the wiring.

it could be as simple as the charging wire from the alternator to the bulkhead fitting on the radiator support is damaged, corroded, or not connected. if this wire is compromised the alternator is not charging the battery and more importantly it is not powering the car when the engine is running.

the P/O may have connected his "custom" alarm to the charging wire and screwed it up..


Another quick place to check is the positive battery cable; it should have a 10 gauge "pigtail" coming off it and this connects to the bulkhead fitting at the radiator support. This pigtail completes the alternator charging circuit.
if this is damaged the alternator cannot charge the battery..

Make sure the battery cables are in good shape if they look beat up replace them.

IF the charging circuit is OK, then you need to check the voltage regulator wiring. this is the harness that plugs into the alternator


The alternator needs a switched ignition source to "turn it on"... I forget which color wire.. Use a test light.. when you key on (not start) this wire should illuminate the test light.. if the alternator is not getting voltage at start up the problem lies on that at end of the wiring..

the P/O may have connected his "custom" alarm to this wire and screwed it up..

You can find the wiring diagram for your model year on this site.. that will help.

It will take some time to sort it out.. don't; waste money on a 200 amp alternator you don't need.

Good luck.

 

http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/alt_bwoh.pdf

see pages 2 &3 for the typical charging system explanation and wiring diagram.

no matter how complicated the car looks under the hood the principle is still the same.. even on today's cars.

 

Actually, here's the wiring diagram.

Note how the light bulb is in the "excitation" circuit. Meaning, if the bulb is burned out, the alt won't even "know" that the ignition is on.



Check the bulb first.

This is ALOT like the situation where the "Choke" light is on (remember, the light that says "Choke" on its lens is REALLY the "Alt" light") and people won't believe that the reason it comes on is because their alt is bad. Everything about that system in these cars is ... odd.

 

Fortunately, it was established that the CHOKE lamp is working, probably too well.

Your years of educating me about the operation of the system has been ingrained, retained, refrained, and sustained.

I only wish we could get a response.

 

Well, here I am back sorry it's been a rough few days or so. Well, here's an update...put in new alternator and it fixed the problem...but not for long back at square one battery isn't getting charged like it should. Now I know for a fact that it's not the alternator I think it has something to do with the choke relay which is tied together into the alternator into charging the battery. I don't know what more to do...im lost and frustrated....I really don't want to take it to a shop but I don't know how much more that I can take every week I wonder about if I will have a vehicle or not to get me back and fourth from work and home. I need to know what else more I should try to do as ive said I am lost...please help.

 

Was any of the wiring checked as we suggested?

 

Josh yes my husband has been checking the wiring and everything looks good we just pulled out the alarm system completely today and while it did help its still not reading correctly. Is it possible the alarm system could mess up the alternator as far as pulling too much volts and causing the alternator not to work accurately? Husband works at.auto.parts store plans to take it to.work and put another alternator on now that alarm system wiring is pulled.out. but if you have any.suggestions please let me know. Thanks!

 

Well, just wanted to give everyone an update on what's going on with my camaro...it is in the shop right now and they called me and told me that something is wrong electronically they put a new battery on it which didn't help the problem but it didn't hinder it either and tested the alternator which came out fine. However, they told me the choke light was staying on so, with that being said I think it has something to do with the choke relay but I definitely knew something was wrong electronically though. Just can't wait to get my camaro back. I have been driving around a toyota hybrid prius as a rental till it is fixed and while it is a nice car nothing beats the camaro. Will put another update up later.

 

Well everyone got a new update. After two weeks finally got my car out of the shop and the electrical part is great to go. They said what was causing a lot of the electrical issues was the ECM they had to trouble shoot it and whatnot now the choke light stays off and the alternator is charging the battery so glad to have my car back and running great!

 

Sounds like they are pumping your underwear full of sunshine.

The schematic is posted right on this page. As you can clearly see, there is no connection of any kind with the ECM. Therefore, nothing they could possibly have done involving the ECM, would have had any effect on it whatsoever.

One of 2 things has happened: (maybe both)

1. They found something they had screwed up in the past, fixed it, and didn't want to admit it; or,
2. They messed with it endlessly, it up and randomly started working again, and they have no clue what they actually did; and just mumbled the most arcane and expensive-sounding technobabble they could muster to deflect your question.

Either way, don't be too surprised if the problem returns. I only hope they didn't charge you too much for this.

But, glad to hear it's working, for whatever reason it started to work.

 

I know this a couple of month's old, but I was having the same problem described here. Checked belt, added ground straps, checked battery connections, etc. Was reading this post and checked the "Choke" light which wasn't working. Disassembled instrument cluster, replaced bulbs, etc. No luck. Decided to build a new trigger wire to run to the alternator from a keyed power source. Using 14 gauge wire (I think the stock wire is 20 gauge), I clipped the stock wire about a foot behind the connector that goes into the alternator. I soldered in a 470 ohm resistor (Radio Shack part number 271-1115 - you get a 5 pack for about $2) to simulate the bulb, and ran the wire to one of the two ignition keyed power sources in the fuse panel (they're labeled IGN). Put a spade terminal on the wire and plug it in. I fired it up and the voltmeter now works and I have 14.4v at the battery when the engine is running (and my battery is located in the trunk). Hope that helps.