CHARGING SYSTEM PROBLEM

[MYFREE95,240SX]

OK WELL THIS IS MY BABY GOT HER 7 MONTHS AGO FOR FREE THE CAR U CAN TELL WAS NEVER REALLY PROPERLY MAINTAINED SO GETTING THERE NOW. BRAND NEW ALTERNATOR BATTERY IS 3 YEARS OLD BUT WAS STORED FOR 2, CONNECTIONS GOOD ON ALT. AND BATTERY. PROBLEM HAPPENED ABOUT A MONTH AGO ALL OF A SUDDEN STARTS PULLING FROM BATTERY AND RUNNING OFF BATTERY. LOSE RADIO WIPERS SLOW WINDOWS ETC.DIES JUMPS FINE STARTS IMMEDIATELY LET IDLE 3 MINS LATER STALLS I REPLACE ALTERNATOR RUNS GREAT FOR A MONTH IN ONE DAY STARTED IT 4 TIMES EACH WAS CONSECUTIVELY HARDER TO START LAST TIME IT STARTED IT RAN FOR A COUPLE MINS THEN STARTS SPUTTERING AND IS ON VERGE OF STALL TURN OF ALL POWER AND GET HER HOME. NOW WONT START AGAIN. BELTS ARE FAIRLY NEW BUT DO GET A LIL OIL ON THEM BUT THEY ARE TIGHT AND DO SPIN THE ALT. STARTER FINE OBVIOUSLY, BATTERY SHOULD BE FINE WAS AFTER CHANGED ALT TESTED IT AND HELD OVER 14 NO PROB. ALTERNATOR WAS BRAND NEW 90 AMP. ANY HELP WOULD HELP KINDA DOING A CONSENSUS CHEAPEST TO MOST EXPENSIVEhttp://forums.nicoclub.com/zeropost?cmd=newtopic&id=130#zer...d=130#

[liquid_cool]

first off bro...CAPPS are like yelling at someone..refrain from using unless nessesary..now to the issue...you have sompin in your electrical system that is fryin your altinator..you might wana start with the radio..as thats the only info ya gave mention to..see if its corectly installd and with a fuse..get back to us and let us know about any modifications you may have allso.

[MYFREE95,240SX]

radio was all rewired by me so its fine installed that like 6 months ago when i got the car. never had any problems until like a month and a half ago no electrical mods just full exaust headers back, suspension, brakes and the system 800w amp and sub. one thing i just thought about was my o2 sensor is really close to the heat shield maybe it started rubbing causing a short? i will check that and fix today. also am getting brand new battery today.

[MYFREE95,240SX]

ok well i went through my stereo and i know that when i hooked it up i had the acc wires and power wire swapped so i could only have my radio on when car was running or if lights were on. and there was no memory for the presets i swapped them today and put in the new battery problem is still there constant drop in power, running off battery alone now u mentioned i could have fried my alternator how would this be? could u explain a little further? when it comes to the eletrical im far from knowledable. thanks.

[Airmanspecial]

either you fried it or, you got a bad one(it happens..) its the diodes inside the internal voltage regulator that give out normally, your voltage regulator is waht opens the flood gate so to speak of power that keeps you car running. Contrary to common belief, your car always runs on your battery not the alternator. as you load the battery(radio, lights heater/ac etc) your alternator reads the amount of amps required and sends it to keep the bettery charging....so if you over loaded that alternator with big stereo equip and your alternator cant keep up with the amps...the diodes go poof and you run on strait bettery.....so long story short.....with you car running....and under a load..I.E turn everything on.,....then see how much volts your getting. and also check youre batterys ground...

[nuts510]

With the car running take a digital voltmeter hook one lead the ground and the other lead at the terminal on the back of the alternator it should be about 14 V then go up to the battery and see if the voltage is about the same it should be within a couple of tenths of one another, if not dual voltage drop test on the wire from the back of the alternator to the battery this is done with a digital meter you hook up one term along the back of alternator and the other one on the positive battery terminal if you get a reading of more than 2/10 of a bolt you definitely have a wiring Harness problem with aftermarket stereos I have ran into a variety of problems on the big wire at the back of the alternator to the battery I have replaced the wire to fix a problem on several cars also check your connection up by the fuse box where the wire comes in their I have ran into many a connection problems there and at the battery terminal

[CrackMan240]

HEY I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM I WENT THROUGHT ABOUT 5 ALTERNATORS AND 3 BATTERYS OVER A YEAR AND I FINALLY FOUD THE 75AMP ALTERNATOR FUSE LOCATED IN THE PASSENGER SIDE FUSE BOX UNDER THE HOOD MINE WAS COMPLETELY MELTED SO I HAT TO BYPASS THE FUSE AND JUST RUN STRAIGHT WIRES WITH NO FUSE ..! HOPE THIS HELPS

[Flatline1121]

sorry to bring a post back from the dead, but i found this searching and have to say something.

first airmanspecial, the alternator absolutely does run the car. power goes down the path of least resistance. in a case like alt vs battery, the alt is pushing more volts thus supplying the battery with power (recharge) and powering the car. having a bad battery can burn up your alternator because it has to work harder to charge the battery more than normal while running the car. a dead battery with suck up as much power as the wires will let it.

second, batteries have a shelf life. this guys battery was 3 years old but sat for 2. a car battery can lose it's charge in a week just sitting on concrete. a car battery is better off being run for 3 years than sitting for 2.

and lastly, dont just bypass your alternator fuse. EVER. your fuse melted because the alternator was trying to charge too much. this is due to resistance somewhere. it could be acid build up on the battery terminals. dirty conncetions. bad alt regulator. in this situation, check your conncetions, clean your terminals and replace that fuse.

with a bypassed fuse for the alternator, you try to change your alternator and ground out the power terminal, have fun when your shock the s*** out of yourself if your lucky. hopefully the tool you use isn't bug enough to get suck on the body and ground out. if it does it'll arc weld itself together until the battery dies.

maybe thats why his name is crackman.....

[Rev_D21]

Sorry but this is not KA related.