Ok guys I give up, let me frame up the problem. 95 348 spider When to test my repair on the alternator rebuild (thanks for the great post on how to do it yourself) and turned the power back on to the car by the manual rotory control-no power, note the knob turned hard. The power was turn off-disconnected when I repaired the alternator, so no short from that repair. Ok I thought it has been a month (with no trickle charger hooked up) since I started it up maybe the battery is dead (Optima gel battery). Went to charge the battery and it charged up quickly according to the battery charger readout. When the battery was charging and the rotory power switch was turned "on" the voltage dropped to 1.9 volts from 11.3 volts (charge in process) turned back off and it when back to 11.3 and growing voltage. I thought that the manual knob was bad, disconnected it, removed and ran the ground direct, no more manual disconnect. Same deal with no switch-voltage dropped to 1.8 to 1.9 volts and looked like it was being drained faster than it was charging. Now I haven't load tested the battery yet but its not that old but that doesn't always mean much. One think to note, the charge I first hooked up was not for a gel battery and was connected for a few mins. then realized that I had the wrong charger connected and connected the proper gel charger. Here is what I don't get why would it be at 11.3 volts with the switch off but as soon as the switch was on or wired direct without the switch it dropped like a huge voltage draw when nothing was on? Now I know you don't always need something on to get a huge draw but it just seems strange. Nothing even faintly looks like it's getting power like a dim interior light or luggage area light. Any ideas, I'm stumped.... What Am I miising?
The symptoms you are describing sound like a battery with a dead cell. It will take at least a partial charge, but once you put a load onto it, it goes dead again. Personally, I think I would remove the battery from the car and charge it according to the manufacturer's recommendations, then have it load tested. If it passes a load test, then you need to check for a problem with the cables or the grounds. It might also be possible that you need to add a ground strap between the frame and the engine/transaxle (I'm not sure if the cars with the battery in front come from the factory with such a cable - can anyone confirm this?).
Well it's all fixed the Optima battery had a dead "cell". I was producing a huge 1.6 volts. I heard of that on a lead-acid but thought that the gel batteries couldn't or wouldn't have that issue. I bought a new AGM style battery which was the original style battery from Ferrari. Thanks for your help!
