Alt/battery?

PrImEtImE · 11-20-2005, 10:03 PM

My alero lights dim at idle, when I give it some gas they lighten up. I just got a new alternator (supposedly 200amp) and replaced the wire connecting the battery and alternator I believe to a 2gauge. What could possibly be wrong? and sometimes my car doesn't even start without a jump which is why I replaced the alternator and got a better battery a yellow-top??? I don't really feel like taking it to an auto electric place cuz' that can get expensive. The alternator tested at like 11.3 volts or something???? happen to anyone else??

2fst4u · 11-20-2005, 11:03 PM

that's crazy man, i'm thinking that maybe you have need to upgrade your ground wire, or is that what you were talking about upgrading. I'm not sure boss, but the alternator might be DOA also, faulty out of the box.

AftermathAlero · 11-20-2005, 11:23 PM

did u upgrade the ground wires to with 2ga? You have to do both or else its pointless.

2nd ..ur battery might be crapping out too. If its isn't a new one, I'd get new one too, or you'll kill the new alty too.

if the alty was a remanufactured one, theres a chance it might be defective from the box. There are those too.

2fst4u · 11-21-2005, 12:01 AM

thanks aftermath, you confirmed my suggestions
lol

PrImEtImE · 11-21-2005, 04:52 PM

ya i just upgraded the wire connecting the battery and alternator, don't think I upgraded the ground wire. New battery so it must be the new alternator. Maybe I'll just take my stock one in and get it upgraded?? cuz' at least than I know it's worth it because it's from gm themselves..

AftermathAlero · 11-21-2005, 05:20 PM

take the new alty off and bring it to your local autozone or auto parts place for testing. Before you do all the other work.

PrImEtImE · 11-21-2005, 07:54 PM

can autozone just test or can the maybe figure out what's wrong also?? ya i'll take it there it just sucks that this would go wrong after doing all this work

tnalero99 · 11-21-2005, 08:15 PM

I took off my alternator and took it to autozone to be tested, they told me that they can't bench test that alternator and I had to reinstall and drive the car up there to be tested on the car. You might wanna check with them over the phone before you have to remove it for testing.

PrImEtImE · 11-22-2005, 07:31 PM

I went to an auto electric place by my house. I'm going to bring in both my stock and "aftermarket" alternator so they both can be tested and see what they say. Just sucks that I have to take it back out. And since I have a yellow-top battery, is it true it's a good idea to have another battery along with that one???

AftermathAlero · 11-22-2005, 10:55 PM

do you have alot of electrical in the car? Like a high powered system? If you have a normal system, the stock system can handle the charge. But if you have a high power system, The high amp alty is the way goto. But you don't really need an extra battery.

If high power system with stock alty; I'd add in an extra battery.

PrImEtImE · 11-23-2005, 04:54 PM

ya i have a system in the car with a higher amp alternator so i'm going to see if there's some sort of drainage going on or something. if it's no the alt i'm going to try a second battery

PrImEtImE · 11-30-2005, 04:51 PM

well since my car does not charge at idle we're assuming I need a smaller pulley so it spins faster. I should receive it by this Saturday or hopefully latest monday. Hopefully that solves the problem.

PrImEtImE · 12-07-2005, 05:56 PM

I got my new pulley delivered to my house last night and had it installed today at a dealership. It helped a little bit. Now instead of being at like 11v I am now at about 13v. Should that be good or do I really need it to be at a flat 14???

sound_xtreme · 12-07-2005, 06:07 PM

mine usually runs at about 13v

PrImEtImE · 12-07-2005, 06:19 PM

cool, so I shouldn't have any problems with leaving it at about 13v??

AftermathAlero · 12-07-2005, 06:31 PM

ya.. mine stays 13.8 all the time around there more or less Thats the stock alty, too.

Good to see that the newer smaller pulley worked.