Battery charging issue

[CRyan]

Well - I've finally gotten my car back on the road. I replaced all belts, rear rotors, bearings, and pads, along with the battery.

And I still am having the same issue as before. The battery will not charge, or alternator do its duty.

Now before I get under the vehicle to take out the alternator to get it re-conditioned, I wanted to run it by you all on what else it could possibly be.

I checked the fuse (as which I THOUGHT was the fuse, it stated it was ALT S) and it looked fine, but just in case, swapped it with my A/C fuse which is also a 7.5.

Still waiting on the battery to charge - I guess next would be to check over with a volt/ohm meter, but I'm not entirely sure where I need to be checking. Just on the battery? To see if it builds a charge at X rpm?

Or somewhere on the alternator?

Also have an issue with the horn - after my little fender bender (nothing major) my air bag light came on and now flashes and horn doesn't work. Checked the fuse, It looked fine - think the horn is just played out - I believe it is still OE horn.

[Airmanspecial]

with engine running lights on radio and heat/ac on, whats the voltage across the battery? if its below 13 (normal chargin is 13.5ish to 14.7)volts its time to take out the alternator and have it rebuilt/replaced

[CRyan]

Why did I think removing the alternator was going to be such a hassle??!!

Noticed when I got the mother off, its coated in oil!

Thanks again oil leaks! Not only are you making me waste money on MORE oil, but you decide to tear apart certain components throughout the engine bay!

Boo oil leaks. And whinny power steering pumps.

[sldewyz]

im almost 99 percent sure ur horn issue is the same as mine. ur just lucky u have an airbag light to help ya out. its most likely your clockspring. when u had ur fenderbender it probably sent a signal to ur clockspring to deploy your airbag but didnt. everytime it goes off the heat from the signal blows the clockspring connection. they always replace clocksprings whenever a airbag deploys. if u have cruise control try and see if that works as well, if it doesnt then bingo its your clockspring. my clockspring is messed up in the s13 and my horn and cruise control dont work.

[CRyan]

im almost 99 percent sure ur horn issue is the same as mine. ur just lucky u have an airbag light to help ya out. its most likely your clockspring. when u had ur fenderbender it probably sent a signal to ur clockspring to deploy your airbag but didnt. everytime it goes off the heat from the signal blows the clockspring connection. they always replace clocksprings whenever a airbag deploys. if u have cruise control try and see if that works as well, if it doesnt then bingo its your clockspring. my clockspring is messed up in the s13 and my horn and cruise control dont work.

Holy hell man!! Yeah! My cruise control doesn't work either!! How do we go about getting that fixed?!?

You just helped me ALOT by telling me not only why the horn doesn't work - but why my cruise control doesn't either!

[sldewyz]

Holy hell man!! Yeah! My cruise control doesn't work either!! How do we go about getting that fixed?!?

You just helped me ALOT by telling me not only why the horn doesn't work - but why my cruise control doesn't either!

well first step for u would be to remove the fuse in ur fusebox that goes to the airbag system. then u want to remove your steering wheel and its right behind there. not sure if its held on by 4 screws like in the s13's are but thats what is holding it on. should be like a ten minute job.

im trying to buy a used clockspring of a partout and im gonna snap a picture of it so he knows what i need, ill post it up here for u as well so you know what to do

[sldewyz]

heres a pic. sry its so small but its what i got its circled in the yellow, right before the turn signal and wiper switches. all u gotta do it take the steering wheel off and then take it off then replace. then u should be set.

[CRyan]

Huge help man thanks a LOT!! I can now finally get this car in good working order

[squonk]

There's another way to have approached this problem for future reference. After battery is charged pull off the negative I think and if it dies immediately it's the alternator.

[CRyan]

There's another way to have approached this problem for future reference. After battery is charged pull off the negative I think and if it dies immediately it's the alternator.

I thought I had said it did that - but I didn't actually pull it off - the negative terminal wasn't grounded very well and when the ground came off from accelerating, the car would studder.

Alternator should be re-conditioned and picked up on Monday by some local guys, who from what I understand, rebuild it better than factory.

[slideways13.4]

i had the same problem with the battery i checked teh terminals and they were both tight and i also checked the fuse. but i didnt switch the fuse just to be sure!!! i did the negative terminal test and it would turn off so i went and payed a pritty little penny for a new alt and i still had the same problem i had my friend also do the same check but when i looked at the fuse again i saw a small black spot thinking it was a hole but my friend disagred with me. when we put it under a light sure enough it was a ridiculously small hole that was the problem. but since u changed ur fuse the alternator should be ur issue

[CRyan]

heres a pic. sry its so small but its what i got its circled in the yellow, right before the turn signal and wiper switches. all u gotta do it take the steering wheel off and then take it off then replace. then u should be set.

Do you have an actual picture of the part? Like not on vehicle?