Stranded in the dino

Drew,

Sounds like a Charging issue, alternator or regulator

Craig

 

Voltmeters don't show power. Might you possibly mean the voltage at the battery started out around 14v and dropped back to 12.5 or so? Or??

There is always the possibility that the new battery is bad or the new battery never got charged up after it was installed. They don't come fully charged from the store anymore and many require some engine time with headlights off to get to full charge.

The alternator components often still work partially when they start to fail and give no adequate dash light indication. You can start by throwing a new alternator/regulator at the car OR you can take accurate voltage readings at idle and at 2k rpm or so after several minutes, to learn for certain what is going on.

 

I wouldn't suggest towing a Dino.

 

Even Autozone tests the system before throwing parts at it. And they do it for free!

 

Sounds like you have a dead Short.Take the Neg side of the Battery terminal off put a volt meter inline one probe on the battery the other on the neg cable.This will tell you how much of a drain you have at the Battery.Start pulling fuses one at a time and look to see if the voltage drops,once you find the culprit fuse you can narrow down your search to the problem.

 

yes...but set the "volt meter" to ampere first......I know you know

 

Voltmeters read volts. Ammeters read amps. Multimeters, aka VOM, can read small amounts of current. Their use in measuring current is discouraged unless you already know the approximate current range expected and can match that to fall within a scale on the meter. To find a dead short with an ammeter or VOM will accomplish blowing a fuse inside the meter.

With the alternator/regulator already suspected, any short in his car will most likely be in the regulator which isn't protected by any fuse on the panel. A +12v bulb type trouble light can be put to good use to find a short by placing it in series with the battery. It will light if a short truly exists and the fuse removing expedition can proceed, starting with all fuses removed, saving your ammeter or vom for use another day.

Yes I'm fussy over verbiage but in a technical forum, it's dangerous otherwise. Plus the $5 trouble light is so fast and easy to produce information, it should be considered a prime tool. I do wish Drew would check the alternator output voltage. That actually can be done with a trouble light but requires some experience observing the light output vs engine rpm.