Put an alt. in the FC a couple days ago, now all of a sudden the battery keeps dying after like ~5 hour stints. Did absolutely nothing else other than change the alt. I’m at a loss. Any thoughts? It’s a 91 N/A. The alt. was used from an 86. Took the car after the install to the local parts store and they did a battery/alternator test. Everything checked out fine.
The battery is new, within the last 6 months. It has never ever died in the past. The terminals are tight.
???
Put the battery on a charger and observe the amperage the charger is putting out. It should start high and then drop, if you don’t notice a drop when the battery is charged, it’s possible the “new” battery has a dead cell. This shit does happen.
Shit does happen, but this is an odd time for it to happen it seems. I’m more wondering if there is something I’m missing…
Doesn’t seem to make sense, it seems alt. related. I’ll try it though, thanks Joe.
Joe, don’t forget the reason you changed your alternator was because of an overcharge situation due to a faulty internal regulator. That overcharged the battery for some time and may have either boiled all of the acid out, or just plain killed a cell like said before. My guess is the acid is low therefore giving low voltage esp in the cold for an extended period. Generally speaking when a cell dies in a 12v battery, you lose 2 volts give or take which will also cause this problem, but usually it would be the second you shut off your car the battery is dead.
The battery you have is a sealed maintenance free battery meaning there is no access to the cells to refill with distilled water or acid. I can’t remember, is it a NAPA battery?
so u jump start the car and it runs? or if your driving for 5 hours it dies? if the cars running generally its not the alternator. if it was the alternator the vehicle would not be able to keep running on its own. i would start at the battery. if its not that then i would look into a open circuit or excessive draw on the car. Is there a power antenna on the vehicle? Check to see if its drawing power when the vehicles off. 9times out of 10 it sounds like a battery issue though.
tho
Check all major grounds on the car, check the horn, no seriously, I know of a car that had the same problem and it was because of the horn.
Skrapper it is a NAPA batt.
Nitro, it dies after being OFF for several hours, when running it’s absolutely fine.
if it was over charging theres no doubt that its the battery.
got a voltmeter? pop it on the battery with the car running. should read between 13.5-14.5 if the alterhater is doing it’s job. If that is all good, shut the ship down and then put the voltmeter on the battery. after running it shouldn’t be lower than 9.7 volts if it’s to maintain the cpu upkeep.
Pat, the voltmeter is reading good (13-14) when the car’s running. I’ll try the batt. test again tomorrow, and huge thanks to Skrapper tonight. You’re the man dude.
Thanks for the help guys.
Bubble tea up.
My talon had this exact problem after the new alternator. Turned out to be a dead cell like mentioned earlier.
GL!
This FC is fucking wearing me thin…not so much in cost, but more like in a daily recurring mishap kind of way. I’m just waiting now for someone to pour sugar in the gas tank, then anally rape my mother, all while I’m being lit on fire by the local fire department. Only then can we call it a day…
:hang:
Should have bought a chevy… 
Is the problem solved?
I would definitely check out the battery first, but if that isn’t the problem it would seem to be an open circuit. Maybe when you changed out the alternator you moved some wires around and they cause the battery to drain out?
G-Luck
Sucks you’re having this problem Joe, hopefully it’s just a dead cell. Let me know if you need the battery from the Sundance
i had a bat alternator in my civic that would charge the battery when the car was running, and drain it when the car car wasn’t running.
disconnect the wires from the alternator and see if the problem dissappears
joe- you should have bought a honda.
gl man
voltage regulator?
