alternator problem

[NickWendt03]

alright i just finished my swap but i cant drive for more than 10 minutes because the battery is getting no charge. ive done all i know to do. ive checked all the fuses there all good, i got the alternator its self checked its good, ive got all the wires hooked up ( the clip, the positive wire, and the ground) im stumped. its a red top sr20 with the ka24de alternator on it. the engine runs perfectly but i need charge. any ideas would be appreciated i need to break this motor in.

thanksnick

[2_Liter_Turbo]

Do you know if the battery is good? You might have a battery that wont take a charge. If the Alternator checked out good (voltage regulator is built in) then it might just be the battery. Borrow a friends battery and try it out. Also, if you have a multimeter, you should be able to test the Alt and battery yourself while the car is running. not too hard.

[NickWendt03]

ive got a multimeter and have checked them both but nothing, and the batterys basically new.

[2_Liter_Turbo]

ive got a multimeter and have checked them both but nothing, and the batterys basically new.

What do you mean by nothing? What are the readings if you pull it directly from the battery? What are they comming striaght off of the Alternator?

[NickWendt03]

the battery is at 12 volts and dropping when the cars on and the alternator reads 0 volts when the cars on.

[srdrps13]

make sure nothings touching your alternator.. i had a problem where my car kept dying... and it was my powersteering lines that was touching the alternator...i fixed that and had no problems...

[NickWendt03]

the only thing i can think of is i relocated my battery. Theres only a 0 gauge wire running from the trunk to the engine bay thats connected to the harness do i have to run a seperate wire from the alternator to the battery??

[srdrps13]

nah.. no wire has to be routed to your alternator.. did you check if anything was touching the alternator that might affect it

[NickWendt03]

no nothings touching it.

[NickWendt03]

anybody have any more ideas

[shiftsideways]

you cant check a battery/alternator with a multi anyway. you need a tester for a battery/ alternator and 1: your battery should be at 14 to 14.3 volts when the vehicle is running and 2; check how much amperage the alt is putting out. if you are at 12 volts when the car is on the battery is bad. if the alt is putting out very little amperage the alt is bad. hope this helps! get sideways

[NickWendt03]

yea but im getting no volts out of my alternator ... nothing.... so i went to get it checked and it passed the alternators fine??????????????

[nukeone]

The easiest check of the alternator is simply to crank the car and then disconnect the battery. If it continues to run, the alternator is working; if the car dies, you definitely have an alternator output issue.

[shiftsideways]

if your alt is putting out nothing replace it. electrical problems are somtimes strange. i had a similar problemwith my dsm and ran in circles for a week b4 finally biting the bullet and buying an alt.

[NickWendt03]

i know for sure now its not the alternator i put a friends brand new rebuilt one on my car and still nothing out of the alternator, somethings ****ed up with wiring..

[xsblacksx]

where does the ground wire go?

[karmakaze]

the only thing i can think of is i relocated my battery. Theres only a 0 gauge wire running from the trunk to the engine bay thats connected to the harness do i have to run a seperate wire from the alternator to the battery??

what kind of wire did you use? does it, small threads or thick threads? when relocating a battery, you should always use thin stranded, thick gauge wire or it can cause charging issues.

the best wire to use is actually the cableing off of an arc welder.

[xero1]

check the two wires going to the alternator(the squar connector) to see if you have any alternator command(5v i think). also check your fuses under the hood.

[NickWendt03]

i figured it out forgot yo post back though

thanks everyone

[240sick]

what was it?

[NickWendt03]

i had the lower harness grounded to the frame and not the fuse box lolits always something easy and stupid.