Cascade Crew

90RSrocks

Last night on the way home a problem started. The battery meter went past the maximum and pegged out, and the headlights/interior lights all went super bright. It looked like whatever is supposed to regulate the electricity stopped working. When I pulled over and let the engine idle, the problem went away a little, but as soon as I revved it got just as bad. I shut it off a couple times after I got home but it was just as bad when I restarted it. It also gave a SES light every time I revved the engine. I thought I was going to have an electrical fire or blow the battery up. Sad

This morning I went out to pull the codes but the car was dead. Not even a hint of power left in the battery. I thought about jumping it and pulling the codes after letting run for a while (to charge the battery) but I don't want to run it much until I fix the problem. I don't want to toast my electrical system.

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2320

Time for a new alternator. Sad

chevymad · Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 4:49 pm Post subject:

Yup, Rod's right. The regulators built into the alternator. Sounds like it fried.

90RSrocks · Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 5:25 pm Post subject:

Well, at least its something that isn't too hard to replace, just a bit spendy. Guess I better look around for a cheap but decent replacement.

Thanks for the help, guys. You rock Cool

Camaro350Z28 · Member Joined: 06 Mar 2004 Posts: 237

what kind of alt you got, i got a 68 or 72 amp lil stock thing sittin in my garage that you could pretty much have, its for an 85 camaro with the quardajet im not sure what your runnin, but just throwin it out there

Tim

90RSrocks · Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 2:45 am Post subject:

I'll have to run out and look in the morning, I'm not sure. All the ones that I found while looking online this afternoon were 100 or 105 amp, so I don't know what to go with. Supposedely they were the correct ones for my engine/electrical combo, but I certainly don't know. arg... it was much easier replacing the alternator in the wife's Probe, only one kind for all models/years. I couldn't expect that much from Chevy though! Rolling Eyes

Dewey316 · Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 3:23 am Post subject:

i don't know that the 85 will fit his car, since he has a serp. belt setup. only way i could think of it working, is if the mounting holes are the same, and then he swaps pullies.

90RSrocks · Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 2:41 pm Post subject:

OK, the new alternator is in, and I tried to jumpstart the car.

Unfortunately, when I try to hook up the jumper cables, it emits a shower of sparks when I try to attach the final connection. I tried hooking them up + to+ and - to -, and also swapped it just to make sure I was covering all my bases. Same result either way. I've never seen this except if you hook it up wrong, but I know I've tried both ways to no avail. Sad

I got the alternator hooked up correctly, and everything is put back together. What the heck is going on??? Confused

Camaro350Z28 · Member Joined: 06 Mar 2004 Posts: 237

hmm, somethin is apparently tweakin, id figure it might be the jumper cables? cause if your gettin sparks like thats tryin to jump but your not gettin any sparks just from hookin up the battery then theres somethin way wrong, id guess jumper cables but im not too great with electrical...

Tim

Demon · Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 4:35 pm Post subject:

personally i'd buy a new battery too and just use the old one for a core.

chevymad · Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 4:42 pm Post subject:

Kelly you really dont want to try and charge the battery with the alternator. You'll just end up frying the new alternator. I'd take the battery out and have it charged then tested. If things arc bad when you go to hook it up again then you must have a bad short somewhere. The arcing now could either be from a short, or just from the dead battery trying to suck the juice from the good one.

Anyway, charge that baby first or you'll overheat the alternator and it wont last as long.

90RSrocks · Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 1:57 am Post subject:

Maybe the Les Schwab down the street can charge it and test it for me. I'll check it out. Thanks for the tips guys. Hail hail

90RSrocks · Posted: Sun May 30, 2004 11:09 am Post subject:

I borrowed a friends battery charger and tried that, no charge in the battery after many hours of trickle charging. To test if it is a battery problem, I took a known good battery out of the van and put it in the Camaro. When I tried to hook it up, I again got a shower of sparks. I guess it's an electrical system problem, not a battery problem. Sad

I have no idea where to start looking for the problem though, having no experience working on the electrical system for this car. I didn't see any obvious fraying or damage in my examination of the lines running from the battery.

Could that new alternator I put in be bad/defective? Might that give these symptoms? I just can't understand how it could run ok the night it started acting up, and then have this major electrical short the next day. Nothing changed in the electrical system except the alternator. Mad

Any suggestions you guys???

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2320

You might try unhooking the wires off the back of the alternator and see if that changes anything.

90RSrocks · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 1:48 pm Post subject:

Sure enough, I disconnected the new alternator, and then tried charging it and had no problems. I took the alt back in and told them what was going on, so they tried to check if it was good and their machine said it was bad. They replaced it right away. The new one is in and the charger has been trickle-charging it for a few hours. Soon it should be good as new!

Thanks much for the help everyone, it saved me alot of time and $ hunting the problem down. Cool

Twilightoptics · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 1:53 pm Post subject:

Just in time for Cows!

90RSrocks · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:33 pm Post subject:

Hell ya!

And, to top it off, it sounds like we may be able to make it Friday afternoon instead of trying to make it up there early Sat for the car show. Cool

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 3:56 pm Post subject:

Awesome news Kelly! Glad that you will have the mean machine for the gathering. See you Friday when you get there!

-Schultzy

chevymad · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:07 pm Post subject:

The quality of new parts is AWE inspiring isnt it? Rolling Eyes

Good to hear its up and running though.