1g charging issues

[ricehunter]

I have a 1G (90) that wasn't holding a charge, so the car will start & run fine on jumper cables then will slowly die. This made me think alternator, so I put in a working one.

Still no charge, so I bypassed the wiring & fuse with some jumper cables (connecting the + on the battery to the bolt coming off the alternator) Which ran fine. I noticed that the fuse was out so I replaced it.

I drove it around and it seemed ok (upon stopping the lights would dim/go black for a split second then go back to normal) once we let it idle, even with a full charge, it will die after sitting.

I'm thinking there's a short somewhere, but I don't know where the wires run to look. Any ideas?

[matthewdesigns]

The best way to find a 'leak' is to start disconnecting things one by one, either at the fuse boxes or directly at the wiring. Once you disconnect something that doesn't result in a lost charge, then start digging into that part/wiring. Since you've already swapped the alt and bypassed the factory wiring with no change in the problem, then you may have a drain with another connection on the car.

Does it have an aftermarket alarm or stereo? Those tend to be the culprit fairly frequently.

[yokotabrat]

It's possible the battery is dead from being fully discharged or from a bad alternator. Get a multimeter and check the voltage at the battery terminals. You should see 13V+ when the car is running, then when you turn the car off, it shouldn't go much below 12V. If it does drop immediately after shutting off the car, you need a new battery. If it doesn't and progressively starts dropping, you probably have a circuit that's draining the battery.

[Dane Becher]

I noticed that the fuse was out so I replaced it.


What fuse and what do you mean by "out" (i.e. missing or blown)?

If blown, I'd inspect that circuit first. It's a good indication something isn't quite right and will probably lead to the culprit.

[ricehunter]

The battery was replaced before we picked up the car. I'll grab a multimeter and try that, do you know where I could find a diagram that shows me where the wires run from the battery to the alternator. The security is the stock system, and the stock radio doesn't work, I may just remove it to see if that helps.

The fuse was blown, and that's why I was trying to track down the issue that caused it to blow.

[ricehunter]

Opp, it was the 80A alternator fuse.

[ricehunter]

Oh, and a random side note does anyone know what gauge the wire is for the alternator to the battery?

[TerryLiv]

On a 1G there is a pair of wires. They are either 8 or 10 gauge. 2G is probably the same, but I don't know for sure.

Terry

[DsmDisciple]

Thanks Terry. To clarify, this is my dsm (and my first at that) and ricehunter referred me to this site.

Do you have any general guess as to where this pair of wires run in the bay between the alternator and the battery?

[DsmDisciple]

Problem solved. Simply a screw on the new fuse was not properly tightened. If the problem returns in the future, I'll give more updates, but as of now, it looks solved!