i saw somewhere that if you have you car running and you disconnect the battery it should still run just off the power coming from the altanater. so i tryied this and the car shut off does this mean i have a bad altanater or is what i saw not true. if it matters i have a 72 cuttlass with a 350. and on the altanater i have the big red wire hooked up to terminal #2 and the small wire hooked up to terminal#1 thanx
If you think you have a bad alternator, get it tested at autozone they will do it for free. Your alternator should read 13.8-14.2 if its good. If its not good, it will be below 13. Also I don't know if your car has a voltage regulator or bushings, if those are not good it will say your alternator is not good even though it is.
usually that means that the alternator is bad. Do the voltage test like recomended. if it reads low (like 12 volts), take it to autozone and have it tested. Most of the time you need about eight volts to the coil for it to operate.
dont get in the habbit of.... pulling the batt cable off a running car is not advisable ou: if it is working you just spiked the hell out of the system.pulling the cable gives no circuit for the current to complete and if you had a voltmeter on it you would have seen 20+volt depending on rpm :ball: this shadetree mechanic method was done back in the days of generators.if you do it to a modern day car,you stand a VERY good chance of letting the smoke out of your on board computer :eek2: do you have built in reg or one on the firewall?if on firewall your wires should go from back of alt to reg.if internal reg,you may have poped it by pulling the cable.HAVE IT BENCH TESTED!!!one more thing,i have seen parts house guys that have no clue how to test an alt,but instead of admitting that they go fumble with it and come up with thier own guess.i have had alternators come in my shop that napa has tested and condemmed,that work just fine,and bad ones they gave back as working,only to confuse the poor installer. look for a rebuilder that knows what is going on.he can also disassemble the unit and check the brush length and slip-ring wear.look in the yellow pages under auto electric. :beer :Smarty:
"if you do it to a modern day car,you stand a VERY good chance of letting the smoke out of your on board computer " If we were working on a modern car (82 to present), I would agree. As the chances are this car does not have an on board computer, there is nothing to worry about.
i sure wouldnt!!! you dont get my drift uzzled: when you dont have a completed circuit,the voltage has nowhere to go,commonly called "transient voltage"and the sense circuit is open,so the voltage continues to climb.if you want to spike your car with 20 volts michael,GO FOR IT! i sure wont! you CAN damage the system,i have seen it more times than i can count in my 25+ years of being in the buisness.i have sold a rebuilt unit to guys that insist on pulling the cable to double check if it is charging instead of using a voltmeter right in front of me,and poping the trio or reg.after replacing the part(s) finding anything from a loose ground,burned out warning light,fuseable link to believe it or not the most common...A SLIPPING OR WORN BELT! p back in the day i had a buddy that was a service writer for sears.anytime a charging system complaint came in,if the belt was slipping,he would sell them an alternator :af: aint commision great?dont make any money,or very little off tighting up or replacing a belt.that was back when sears had a class action suit against them and closed most of the service departments.gee i wonder why? :rant: and i am quite aware a 72 cutlass has no computer,i was advising anyone reading this that might even be thinking this is a proper test what the outcome could be. :Smarty: :beer
Well......I've learned something today................... OK,OK What is the proper way to spell Alternatyor?
alternator-alternater-altenatr,aww screw it,were's that spell check button? any way you can get the point across.the best one i have heard was "that little spinny thing with the fan going round and round" ou: i had HIM point to it just to make sure :grin: i guess the engineers couldnt figure it out either.nowadays it is called a charging system,and that is referring to the actual unit :beer
"pulling the batt cable off a running car is not advisable if it is working you just spiked the hell out of the system.pulling the cable" I had a battery open up on me once and it showed no voltage I got my 65 glasstop jumped and drove it home using just the coil (no lights, radio, heater and disconected the brake lights. the voltage ran around 16 volts 2 amps for the 30 minute trip to get home and buy a new battery Once I replaced the battery I checked the the charging and ignition system and both were fine Dont know what would have happened if it was a newer model, maybe the eletronics would have fried (One reason I will never own a car older than 74 besides the Smog Check Crap!)
listen to the fish killer trust me, yesterday i pulled the cable off my battery and blew out every bulb on my car that was turned on, so i would listen to what he says, wish i would have seen his comments a couple of days ago !!! :TU: :3gears:
Multimeter at Harbour Freight for $5. I have one in every toolbox. Have a nice one in my electrics box.
