Hey guys,
My Z has been acting wierd since the end of summer last year.
The battery would die almost like every 2 days,
Well, i have done quite a good amount of research / testing
i am recieving 14volts while the car is running, does not increase as car rpm increases. Also i noticed my low beam bulbs wernt working, took alook at them and the passenger side was blown up, and the driver side was just blown. I checked the voltage at the connectors, and it was 14volts (is that to high)
Battery is old, but is charged/works ( i have new one, but dont want to kill it til i find out what the problem is)
something like that happen 2 me last week…i was driftin’ and then after i saw
that my anti-lock and my e-brake and my battery lights came up…the battery
was giving 14.1v when it was OFF and 13.5v when it was ON…so it was
ok…the next morning i went 2 school and the car died on the
way…after that i noticed that i was driving without the alternator belt…i
pushed my car into the Center point plaza on young and steels and changed my
alternator belt …so what I’m trying 2 say is that maybe you should
try checking your alternator or the belt…GOOD Luck …
Z32s usually have a lot of electrical problems as they age and the alternators are notorious for premature death. I can understand that though. If you look at the engine bay it is probably one of the most compact production car engine bays I’ve ever seen. No space for proper ventilation.
The bouncing voltage is a sign that the Voltage Regulator in your alternator is dying. 14volts is nothing to worry about, but start getting really concerned 15 and up. My car bounces to 16 at times and for some strange reason this morning I started it and it was running at 16 for a good 10 minutes.
The gauge might be faulty though cause most of the time when I tap it, it falls back down to operating voltage. Still would mean at least that it’s spiking which is what the voltage regulator is supposed to control.
Last year in the summer I fought with it a lot. In the middle of driving once in a while I would start to smell plastic burning inside and all the lights would turn on on the dash like the car is on ignition but it would go away after I cooled the car down for a bit.
Enough of my rambling.
My point is that your alternator is probably on its way out.
To make sure just check the cables on your alternator, battery and even starter. Make sure you have good grounding between the engine, frame and battery. Until you do a load test on the alternator you can’t really say much.
Get a Volt gauge like what I have in my car so you can see what it’s doing while driving. Electrical Gremlins are the worst. Good luck
Oh yeah, and like Vlad said, make sure your alternator belt is on secure. It’s a bitch to change it on these cars so just spray it with some belt dressing and see if it gets any better.