95 4dr 4at charging issues

[geckocycles]

I have spent $600 on this issue now! It still does the same thing as always.

New alternator, battery and positive terminal ends and battery clamp. I get 14 -21 amps at idle coming off wire from Alt. Only 1-4 A to battery. Current readings don't increase with lights on. In fact current to battery decreases. Minimal voltage drop at battery when lights are on. Battery voltage is 14.3 at idle with battery reading 12.8 engine off.

My old alternator ended up being OK so I put it back on and now Napa won't take back the new one I bought even though they were the ones that told me the alt was bad when they checked it on the car. Out $150 now but got a spare. Time to talk to the owner. I'm sure he will work with me. I do a bit of press work for them and a fair amount of purchases too for 20 years

Both sense and igniter wires have battery voltage when unplugged engine off, key on and plugged in while running. 4.9V on exciter wire plugged in, not running, key on. I did not rotate the alt though when I did that test.

I ended up taking the Kick to the "BEST" place in Denver 30 miles away. $408 later they said it was fixed but nothing has changed except they put a battery terminal on and new ends on the 3 wires to the pos terminal. $7 hasmat fee to dispose of old lead battery terminal! WTF!! 4 hrs to put a new battery terminal on? There was nothing wrong with factory cable end. No corrosion at all and in great shape.

I just don't get how I can loose so much current from one side of the terminal from alt to the other on the distribution box. Voltage is the same and why the alt is constantly putting out 14-21A with battery fresh off charger with over 13.5V in it or with 12.8 after sitting over night and why isn't that current making it to the battery?

Also voltage output doesn't increase as RPM goes up.
Minimal load on battery with key on and engine off. Certainly not 14+ amps. More like .2A

[fixkick]

QUESTIONS: lots........ REDUX. your other post states INJECTORS, so is 16v (plural injectors) I needed this to see all possible loads !
IS IT USA or Canada? car, DRL or not? Daylight Running Lights. can fail and cause, the ALT to go nuts. Unplug DRL module under upper top left dash.

Did it have A/C, air cond. and compressor, that is long dead, but still wired up? The clutch sucks big time amps. 20? Unplug the A/C clutch and AMP / fuses.
AC has its own harness. the pathes are not shown in the factory drawings, only AC drawings show that path. and I have them too.

Defrost, ? active. on rear window? Huge amps, if stuck on.
the fan in the heater pulls 15 amps easy.

The 16v running pulls more current the faster those 4 injectors fair, adds maybe up to 4 amps more above key on amps.
I think 10 amps is the max for running, EFI, the fuel pump alone pulls 4amps. and if bad up to 10a. we can find this easy with the clamp.
measure the current out of all the output legs on main fender fuse box. add them up and bingo all current ,(minus battery) is known, running.



what are your symptoms? what charging issues, which kind, there are many.
What type ammeter, the old shunt kind or the ampclamp?
we can find your 14amp easy with the later clamp, at the fender box. one of up to 3 output lines has that current. very easy to find.
there is no magic to Kirchoffs laws.
Charging system issues, which?

undercharges,
over charges and boils the battery to death or worse blows all the lamps out car,.seen many go to 20v, and BOOM, damage no limits....
overnight drains battery. (6am dead or after work, dead)
charge lamp comes on for no reason.
Intermittent.
? which?

this photo does not show all loads, only 1, from this link.... http://www.fixkick.com/Charging/charging.html


the below link
shows all types of failure paths (loads), and the charge system loves to fail, with bad connections.
we have a record of 5 Alternators swapped out. (it was the wiring.)
the all time top fails are here, with graphic photos. Salt belt fails , all.

http://www.fixkick.com/electrical-failure.html

and off my schematic page. the whole 95.

http://www.fixkick.com/power-elect/95%20...istra1.pdf

see the main fuse box. see white-yellow wire, that is Head lamp current , and will be about 10amps.

with that amp clamp you can check all 5 , wires at the main box. , all accessories, off, and lights and brake lights.

Amps chart at main fuse box. fender top.
wire
color------------ key off--key on--running.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
wht/green----------0------ 0------0------------- floating , more is charging
wht/yellow----------0------0------0------------(.010 is possible due to ECU memory drain) 10/1000th of an amp is normal via DOME fuse.
wht/green-Sm------ 0------5?----varies----------this is ECU + pump +injectors, 2amps to 10. is normal based on RPM (bad fuel pumps suck big current.)
white-------------- 0------1amp- same-----------this is RWAL, (rear wheel antilock brakes, if opted)
big black----------- 0- add above-add above------the polarity tells you if its charging or discharging, +/- on the amp dial.
white/green big------0-------0--- Gen Amps. this is the actual output of the ALT. 0 to 50 amps.


the white/green BIG, gen (Alt) wire, will have the current for the whole car, running. all currents added up, it runs the car ALL!
the battery, never runs the car unless, you crank or the gen fails. Ever.
Once each current is measured, and it seems wrong, we can go and find WHO,is sucking current. too much. its not hard at all.

hope my chart works out.

the clamp.